BOOK ONE: James Potter and the Continuous Legacy
by Luke Grant
Summary: The story of James Potters first year at Hogwarts. Though the Second Wizarding War has ended, there is the threat of the Magical History Movement, a group dedicated to proving Harry Potter a traitor, with the help of a "Relic from the Battle of Hogwarts"
1. Chapter One: The Gathering Shadow

Chapter One: The Gathering Shadow

A thin layer of mist hung over the City of London, an ominous symbol of the meeting that was taking place in a small home in its outer limits. For on this day, an evil pact would reveal itself to the world, and make known its grand yet twisted intentions for the world. A world that had been envisioned by countless before, but had never quite been realized by any of them. However, on this day that was all going to change.

On this day, a rapidly emerging force in the Wizarding World was preparing to announce itself to the rest of the magical community, in order that their cause begin to make itself known to others outside of their small group. For without public attention and fear, they could never hope to achieve their goals.

Though the Second Wizarding War had long since ground to its horrific conclusion, this group insisted that the War's principals had not been understood by the magical community, who had blinded themselves to the truth of what had happened by the fear of change and their mindless loyalty to traitors such as Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore.

Three cloaked figured, wearing hoods and skirting along the alleyways of London as though they were mere shadows, approached the main gate with caution. There was simply no telling was going to happen, and the thought of what their leader might do to them if they were late filled them with more dread than did the thought of the long stay in Azkaban that awaited them if they were ever caught in his service.

As the passed through the main gate, their boots squishing on the wet cobblestones of the walkway to the front door, the man on the left turned to his two companions and whispered "This had better be important, I'm probably going to get fired for this!" His companions hissed at him to be silent, saying "You should be willing…proud even, to give up your job in his service! Remember the cause you're fighting for, nothing can be more important than the mission! When all is said and done, you know that you shall be rewarded for your loyalty!"

The group grew deathly silent as they reached the imposing doorway, which was made of the finest oak and towered at least six feet over the head of even the tallest of men. Raising his gloved fist, the man on the right knocked precisely five times…then two more…followed by an additional nine…and lastly eight knocks. This seemingly random sequence of knocking was actually a secret code for the organization, and the door swung open soundlessly a moment later to admit the robed men.

This group was known as the Magical History Movement, or the MHM, and their goal was simple. To make the Wizarding World realize that the Dark Lord was actually a benevolent man whose only goal was to unite the Wizarding World under one banner. Unfortunately, as with any revolutionary movement, his plans had been met with resistance and he had been forced to violence in order to make this great new future a possibility.

Of course, as everyone who wasn't living underneath a rock knew, the Dark Lord was killed by Harry Potter on that fateful May day in 1998. But what very few people knew, according to the Magical History Movement, was that Harry Potter had killed the Dark Lord not to save the world from any 'evil plot' of his, but so that he could undermine the Ministry of Magic and take it over for himself, by installing his puppet as Minister of Magic.

Their leader was a young mysterious man whose name was known only to a select few, and his past to even fewer. Like the organization itself, the man was faceless unknown and deadly; and it was because of him that this meeting had been called forward. His face was disguised behind a hood as he strode at the head of the room before the fifty or so who had gathered at his command. Underneath the hood, a pair of gleaming eyes scanned the crowd before him, assessing who would be an asset to the organization as a combatant, and who would play other key roles. For he was an excellent judge of character, and could quickly point out a man's strengths and weaknesses. Already he was beginning to plan which of his supporters he would be sending on this crucial mission. Only the best of the best could go, as their fate hinged on this mission being an absolute success.

Stopping in midstride, the man faced the crowd and said "I suppose you're all wondering why I've assembled you here. After all, our organization is rarely brought together in such numbers…it is how we have survived over the years." There were murmurings of assent throughout the room. Everyone present was expecting some kind of incredible breakthrough, for what else could have caused such an unprecedented gathering?

"As I'm sure you know my friends, it was 18 years ago today that the greatest crime ever committed against Wizards took place, and to this day it goes unpunished." Pausing to glare out the window he continued "Everyone knows of this crime, everyone knows who committed it, but yet no one seems to care. Why is this?" at this he turned once again to face the room, as though daring one of them to answer. "Eighteen years ago today the world was lied to and deceived!" he proclaimed, slamming his hand down on the table. "Only we know the true story, and it is our sacred duty to ensure that the world knows the evil that Harry Potter has done!"

There was a general murmuring around the room at this point, yes they all knew that Harry Potter had murdered the Dark Lord eighteen years ago, and that by doing so he had prevented the Dark Lord from uniting the world under the banner of Wizard-rule, but what was the point of this meeting if not to tell them something that they already knew?

The Leader's stare grew ice-cold, and the room quickly fell silent as those gathered caught a glimpse of his withering gaze. "Yes," he continued, his voice harsher than before, "Harry Potter is the most praised criminal that the world has ever known. But now, we have found a way to ensure that the lies that he has created are forever shattered!"

The man's voice was as liquid gold to the listeners, who had cast aside their doubts at his promises and assurances. "How?" they chorused, as if trained to do so like pets. To which the man's wicked grin grew even wider. "How?" he scoffed, as if the very question was an insult to his intelligence. "We've all heard the legend of the famous Battle of Hogwarts, where Harry Potter cast down the Dark Lord and installed his puppet Kingsley Shacklebot as Minister of Magic." Again as if on cue, the others began hissing and booing at the mention of Potter and Shacklebot, but at a wave of the speaker's hand they grew silent once more.

"Yes!" he went on, "The magic used that day was some of the most incredible ever seen! And we have realized since that it was caused by an ancient artifact that none of the combatants knew about, the energy of which fuelled the spells of both sides! If we could find a way to channel its energy, then we will be able to destroy Harry Potter and his puppet regime once and for all! And restore the World to the way that it was meant to be!"

At the end of his speech, the crowd assembled around him began to roar and cheer in approval, a greeting which he seemed to take as trivial and commonplace. After acknowledging them he shouted "We are all followers of the Dark Lord, and we shall not rest until the truth is known to all the world!" and with those words, he strode from the hall to begin making preparations for the tasks ahead. One thing was certain though…they would need to find a way to sneak into the grounds of Hogwarts…and for that they would need a plan that had been meticulously crafted by one of the most gifted schemers of all time.

"Mandeni!" the man barked, calling one of his most trusted advisors to his side. The man was tall, and had short-cropped black hair that rose up in the front like a tidal wave ready to crash down on an unsuspecting shore-line. "Yes my liege?" the man replied, kneeling on the ground before his leader, fearful of what the man could possibly want with him.

Taking neither notice nor interest in his follower's fear and apprehension, the man continued "You are very familiar with the magical defenses surrounding Hogwarts. So I need you to take a look at these plans and tell me if they will work."

Mandeni rose from where he knelt at his master's feet and examined the plans closely, knowing all too well how important this decision was. If he told his master that the plans would not work…his master would be furious and their plans would be set back several months as new ones were drawn up. No doubt, all of this rage and frustration would find an outlet in him, and he had no desire to be used as a human dart-board. On the other hand, if he told his master that the plan was sound and it failed, for whatever reason, he would wish that he had never been born.

Finally, the man spoke…his voice quaking with fear as he continued to stare at the parchment he held in front of him. "They are flawless my lord, there is no way that anyone could prevent this plan from going forward." The man remained unconvinced by Mandeni's sniveling as he asked a moment later "And you're absolutely sure about this?" Mandeni nodded, to which the man replied "Good."

With a sigh of relief, Mandeni was turning to return to his place in the meeting hall when he heard the sound of rushing wind behind him, and saw the faintest hint of green filling the room. Before he could see any more, he had crumpled to the floor…dead.


	2. Chapter 2: A New Beginning

Chapter Two: A New Beginning

It had forever been a joke amongst the residents of Grimauld Place to tell newcomers to be sure to visit 'Number Twelve' whilst they were there, a joke that had long since outlived its humor. It never ceased to amuse them when the befuddled visitors spent the rest of the afternoon trying to find where the house was located. Because, there was no Number Twelve, Grimauld Place, as an amusing mistake of the town committee had incorrectly marked what should have been Number Twelve as Number Thirteen, and continued onward from there.

However, other than these rather humorous engagements, the residents of Grimauld Place rarely thought of the numerical anomaly. There was simply no Number Twelve, Grimauld Place and that was all there was to it. Of course, it was fun to use the quirk to confuse other people, but there was not much use in wasting their time thinking about it.

However, sometimes some odd folk showed up in Grimauld Place with no other intentions than to view the strange gap between Buildings Eleven and Thirteen. The place where, if there had been more than a sliver of space, Number Twelve would have logically have been found. Always they were very strange folk too; they wore strange cloaks and never spoke to any of the residents. And even more peculiar, they seemed to vanish into thin air the instant that anyone tried to go ask them why they were there.

However, what the residents of Grimauld Place did not know, was that there in fact _was_ a Number Twelve, Grimauld Place and in fact it was concealed in that place between Numbers Eleven and Thirteen. The House had been concealed from the eyes of Muggles so long ago that no one could remember a time when it had been visible for all to see. For the people who lived in this house were Wizards…and ones who did not like to be disturbed by neighbors asking for a cup of sugar.

Originally, the house had been concealed for purposed of protection; but though both Wars were now over, the occupants of Number Twelve had kept the enchantments in place to maintain some semblance of privacy. For you see, the residents of Number Twelve, Grimauld Place were not normal by any means…even by the standards of Wizards. In fact, they were about as far from normal as it was humanly possible to be.

On the Third Floor of Number Twelve Grimauld Place, a pair of brown eyes cracked open as light peeking through the curtains broke over his face. Ordinarily, the boy would have been groggy and slow to awake, but today was a very special day. The day that he had been looking forward to ever since he had been old enough to understand who and what he truly was.

So rather than laze about and resume sleeping until his mum came by and dragged him out of his bed, the boy jumped out of bed after shaking the sleep from his head. He had had that same dream again: the one that he would be living soon enough, if everything went the way it was supposed to.

Rushing over to his dresser, the boy glanced in the mirror for only an instant before going about getting dressed. His dark brown hair was an absolute wreck, but that was to be expected. There was nothing he could do about that, and so he instead proceeded to tug up his jeans despite the mirror's indignant shouts of "Comb your hair you animal!" Rolling his eyes at the Enchanted Mirror, the boy pulled his jumper, which was the same shade of brown as his eyes except for the golden 'J' sewn in the center of it. Satisfied with his appearance, the boy rushed downstairs, not bothering to stop and greet his younger brother, who was walking towards the bathroom rubbing his eyes sleepily.

As he reached the kitchen, he saw his parents discussing something quietly over cups of coffee. His father, whose untidy black hair hung down nearly to his vibrant green eyes was glancing upwards every few moments as though waiting for something; while his mother, whose flaming red hair was tied back in a pony-tail, was glancing down at the Prophet as she spoke. Ordinarily, he would have tried to eavesdrop on their conversation, but today he had more important things in mind. "Did it come! Did it come?" the boy asked, jumping up on the countertop looking for even the slightest trace of parchment. After exchanging a knowing look with his mother, the boy's father handed a parchment envelope to him saying "You knew it was going to, so will you calm down already?" his face glowing with pride as he said so.

The second that the envelope had entered the boy's sight, he had neither eyes nor ears for anything else. Before another word had escaped from his father's lips, he grabbed the envelope from his father and immediately tore it open, grabbing the parchment it held within. Hands trembling with excitement, he read the letter, scarcely breathing as he did so.

_ Dear Mr. Potter,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.  
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31._

The boy did not need to read on, he let out a yell of excitement and hugged his parents…he was going to Hogwarts, just like he had always dreamed he would…just like he'd always known he would. "Good job son." his father said to him, the pride evident in his voice. "We always knew that you'd be going someday, just like us. I hope you don't mind, we already wrote back to enroll you."

The boy could do nothing but laugh, did he mind, was that what his father had really said? Of course he didn't mind! Nothing was going to bother him today, because he was finally old enough to go to Hogwarts and learn magic just like his parents! His father seemed to understand his speechlessness, so he smiled and ruffled his hair saying "Well, we're going to have to head down to Diagon Alley before we catch our Portkey…we may not have time once we get back.

Of course, how could he have forgotten? They were going to Ireland next week for the Quidditch World Cup! His father had managed to get tickets for the Match, which would pit England against Italy, and the whole family had been looking forward to it since March! Everyone except him that is, he had been so caught up with getting his letter that he had totally forgotten about the whole thing.

His brother, the sitting image of their father, emerged sleepy eyed and drowsy a moment later; meandering lazily into the kitchen before being scooped up by their mother. Unlike his brother, who was alert and excited, the younger boy was barely awake; his striking green eyes barely visible as squints underneath his mess of black hair. "He got it then?" the boy asked sleepily, it was clear that he had never doubted the arrival of his brother's letter.

Unable to resist the chance to gloat, the boy replied "You bet your (toy) broom I got it! Are you jealous little bro? I'm going to Hogwarts, and you're gonna be stuck here all year having your hand held my mummy!" His little brother was his favorite target for teasing and pranks, but the two were also very close…and he wondered what he was going to do at Hogwarts without his brother around to keep him company.

The younger boy's bright green eyes filled with tears, for in fact, he was jealous of his older brother who got to go to Hogwarts a full year before he did. But more than that, he knew he was going to miss the older boy terribly, despite his constant teasing of him. Besides, he was also afraid that his brother was going to forget about him while he was at school.

But still, he couldn't just take that a shot like that lying down! Something had to be said, though he was never as good at one-liners as his brother. "Yea, I'm sure I'll be jealous of you slaving away over textbooks all day and getting your head shoved into toilets by little girls!" he said, poking his head up out of his mother's lap to get a better view of his brother.

"Alright that's enough!" the boys' mother said, never one to tolerate the brothers arguments and fighting. "If you two don't cut this nonsense out right now, neither one of you is going to come with us to the World Cup! I swear I'll leave both of you with Grandma, and you'll have to hear about what happened from your sister!"

Nothing could have shut the boys up faster than those words, as both brothers immediately fell silent, but still glared at each other intently. "Well, it's a start." Their mother said with a sigh, as she set to making breakfast for the family.

Later that night, alone in his bedroom, the brown-haired boy took the letter out of his pocket, re-reading it for the thousandth time, as though to convince himself that it was actually real. There was no doubt about it, as he fell back on his bed with a wide grin; James Sirius Potter was going to Hogwarts!


	3. Chapter 3: A Wand of Destiny

Chapter Three: A Wand of Destiny

Several days had gone by since James Potter had received his Hogwarts Acceptance Letter, and each and every one of those days had been filled with fantasies of the adventures that he was going to have there. He had already heard so much about Hogwarts from his cousin Victoire, and his God-brother Teddy Lupin: mostly from Teddy though.

Like her mother, Victoire was not so fond of James and chose to spend most of her time at the Potter residence talking to James' younger brother Albus who was more 'sensitive' and 'mature' or whatever. But that was just an added bonus for James, who had always thought that his Auntie Fleur was a bit of a stuck up snob. And though no one ever said so out loud, he had a feeling that his mother was of a similar opinion about her Sister-in-Law.

Teddy Lupin though, had been a gold-mine of information about the wonders of Hogwarts for both of the Potter boys, who doted on his every word as if their very lives hinged on them. Though they were not blood relations with the older boy, James and Albus both viewed Teddy as an older brother and practically worshipped him. James for one, would probably have thrown himself off a building if Teddy had told him that it was a good idea.

So when James woke up on the decided day, his every feature was brimming with excitement. As he hurriedly dressed and ran downstairs to eat before the family went to Diagon Alley, he didn't bother to stop when Kreacher, his father's old House Elf, asked him "Would the young Master James like Kreacher to help him prepare for his big day?" Already bounding down the stairs to the main landing by this time, James shouted back "I got it Kreacher!" To which the Elf simply shook his head and continued towards the disaster area of James' bedroom. Though he cleaned it every day, James still managed to find a way to make an absolute wreck of it by the next morning.

As James crossed the Living Room looking for his parents, he caught sight of his brother, Albus Severus Potter, who must have woken up some time ago as he was already dressed and carrying around half a piece of toast. Albus looked at his older brother in amusement and said "James, what in Merlin's name are you wearing?" James had absolutely no idea what his brother was talking about until he looked down and realized that in his rush he had put his Christmas Jumper on inside out. Al was still sniggering at his brother's foolishness when James said "I did that on purpose!" settling upon the first excuse that popped into his head. This, however, did not seem to help as his brother only laughed all the harder.

"Sure, you may laugh now. But this is going to be the next big thing, just you wait!" James said, which stopped his brother's laughing, but didn't prevent him from retorting with "So long as you say so James." Before walking away, still shaking his head in amusement at his older brother' crazy habits; who on earth wore their sweater inside out?

It had been a stupid thing to say, but James couldn't admit to making a mistake in front of his brother. Besides, wearing his sweater inside out made him unique, something that he always strived to achieve; being the eldest son of the famous Harry Potter meant that you had to leap at even the slightest opportunity to stand out.

Breakfast for James consisted merely of a few pieces of toast as he was far too excited to eat very much that morning. His father, he'd been told, was out making sure that all of the necessary arrangements were taken care of, so he was left with only his mother and sister for company. Lily Luna Potter was the spitting image of her mother Ginny, just as Albus was the spitting image of Harry. Her flaming red hair hung down to her shoulders, and her soft brown eyes were the exact same shade as James'. She was also eight years old, exceptionally whiney, and always seemed to get whatever she wanted from their mother.

Today, she spent the entire morning whining about how it was unfair that James got to go to Hogwarts and she didn't. "I wanna go too!" she cried, using her whiniest voice, and pleading to their mother with giant puppy-dog eyes. James snickered at his sister's pathetic whining and glanced back over at the fireplace, wondering when his father would be returning.

Their mother was more sympathetic than James to her daughter's feelings, probably because she had gone through the same thing as the youngest of seven children. "You'll be able to go soon too." she comforted the crying girl, stroking her hair lovingly and saying "And besides, you'll still have Albus to play with. And Hugo, and Rose, and all of your other cousins besides, you'll be fine Lily." It was true Lily spent more time with Al, Hugo, and Rose than she did with James, who spent most of the time that the two were together playing jokes on his gullible younger sister. However, Lily apparently had more affection for her oldest brother than she let on, because she shrieked "NO! I WANT JAMES!"

James was spared the indignity of having to listen to the rest of his sister's tantrum by a howling sound coming from the fireplace behind them. The flames shot up, and a moment later, Harry Potter stepped from the ashes. "Daddy!" James yelled, running over and hugging his father, eager and excited as he was to be gone. "Can we go…now? Just the two of us, without the others?" James asked, not wanting to have to listen to his sister's whining while he should be enjoying himself getting his robes, and books, and above all his wand.

His father seemed to understand what James meant, as he stooped down so that he was level with his son and said "Don't worry, we're going to go as a family, and everyone's going to have a good time, OK?" James was unconvinced, but he nodded at his father's words trusting that he would take care of everything. That was what fathers did, they took care of their children's problems and made sure that they were happy; so James was sure that his dad would do everything he could to make sure that everything went well.

Entering the kitchen, Harry whispered a few words in his wife's ear before saying to Lily, who by this point had crawled underneath the table "Lil, if you cheer up and smile, I'll get you a _big_ ice-cream at Diagon Alley OK?" James rolled his eyes, who was his father kidding? Did he really think that Lily was going to stop crying over an ice-cream? But apparently, James was wrong, as Lily immediately poked her teary-eyed head out from under the table and said in a small voice "The biggest size?" to which their father laughed and said "The very biggest."

Once the promise of sweets had calmed Lily down, the rest of the morning went off without a hitch. Except for the moment when James' father had noticed his rather unusual style choice. "James," His father had began, "why in Merlin's name is your sweater inside out?" he asked, staring at James quizzically, as though he had never seen something so ridiculous in his life. James had been formulating an answer when Albus had decided to chime in, reporting that "James thinks he looks cool with his jumper inside out." To which his parents had enjoyed a quiet laugh before the family stepped into the fireplace.

When they had arrived in Diagon Alley, James knew exactly where to go, the only problem was where on earth was he to go first? There were robes, spellbooks, cauldrons, potion supplies, wands, owls, and maybe even broomsticks! Finally, they had resolved to go to Flourish and Blotts first to purchase James' spellbooks.

Even for someone like James, who never read unless he was forced to, Flourish and Blotts was a wondrous sight to behold, no matter how many times he had been there. Books stacked as far and high as the eye could see, in every language and on every subject! James had spent a long time lingering over a book called Jinxes and Hexes: A Guide to Punishing Your Enemies which had filled his head with images of all the funny things that he could do to his brother once he'd learned how to properly use magic. However his parents, who doubtless knew exactly why James would want such a thing, had adamantly prohibited James from even going near that book, and the rest of their time in Flourish and Blotts was quite dull by comparison. Although they had spent almost a half hour trying to find Albus when the boy had wandered off and buried his head in a copy of Quidditch Tactics and Maneuvers: The Basics.

Next was the Apothecary, a shop that was terribly interesting, but even more terribly foul smelling. James had been there once before, when his father had needed to pick up a shipment for work, and the place was still just as horridly foul as it had been on that occasion so many years ago. They picked up a Pewter Cauldron for James, despite his insistence that he would instantly be the coolest kid in the entire school if his parents let him buy a solid gold one.

Madam Malkin's was next on the list, a shop that Lily found far more interesting than James or Albus. While James was being fitted for his robes, his sister was running all over the shop looking at all the 'pretty costumes' as she called them. James found the fitting to be almost unbearable as it required him to stand completely still for almost half an hour, a prospect that for someone as antsy as James was inconceivable. Had it not been for the fact that he knew he would not be able to go to Hogwarts without a proper set of robes, he would not have put up with it at all.

After leaving Madam Malkin's, the Potters happened to pass by Quality Quidditch Supplies, where both James and Albus immediately rushed up to the window and pushed their noses up against the glass. In the display window they could see some of the greatest brooms in the world displayed prominently. The Firebolt, the Nimbus 2,000, and the brand new Nimbus 3,000! It was not quite as fast as a Firebolt, but it possessed exceptional maneuverability and was still a world class broomstick.

While the boys gaped at the beautifully polished wood that lay on the other side of the glass, their parents were standing behind them silently arguing about something. When James was finally able to tear his eyes away from the broomsticks, he looked back at his parents and said "Dad, can I please, please, please, please, get a broom?" his brown eyes swimming with hope and wonder. His father did not answer, but merely looked at his mother who groaned and said "No James, we've been over this before! You're not getting a broom until you've proven to us that you can keep focused on the more important things at Hogwarts, like your grades! Maybe next year, if you study hard, you can get a broom."

Next year? That was an eternity from now! And besides, how was he going to make the House Team in his First Year like his father had if he didn't even have a respectable broomstick? But his mother was not to be persuaded, and it was with a heavy heart that James tore himself away from the display case.

"How about this?" his father said, trying to mediate the tension that had been created when James' mother had refused to let him get a broom, "Why don't we get you an owl James? You've always said that you've wanted your own owl. And…" he continued when his wife gave him a menacing look, "James does deserve a present for starting his First Year at Hogwarts." Eventually it was agreed upon that James would get an owl, and twenty minutes later, James was walking out of Eeylops Owl Emporium with a young Eagle Owl perched in its cage. He was so thrilled to finally have an owl of his own that he had almost forgotten his disappointment about not being able to get a broom. "Thanks mom, thanks dad! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he said, practically hopping in place as they walked down Diagon Alley to their last stop…

At the end of Diagon Alley, lay a small dusty shop, but it was this shop that had so captured James' heart and imagination from the time that he was just a small boy. And it was for that reason that he had, agonizingly, left this shop for last. The peeling sign above the door read 'Ollivander's: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.' It was here that his father had purchased his wand all those years ago, and now James would be doing the same.

Mr. Ollivander, who ran the shop, had been kidnapped by the Death Eaters during the Second Wizarding World, but had been rescued by James' father. After the War had ended, he had decided to return to his shop and sell wands once again. According to Harry, there was no other wand-maker that could possibly sell James a wand of equal quality to the one that Ollivander's could provide him with.

As they entered the shop, an old balding man stepped out from behind the counter and said "Oh yes, oh how I've waited for this one." His eyes travelled from James, to Harry, and then back to James. "Yes, oh yes how I've waited. Ever since I heard of his birth I have wondered when you would bring him to see me." Taking a roll of measuring tape he asked James "Which is your wand arm?" to which James immediately replied "My right." Mr. Ollivander did not reply, but began measuring James' height, arm length, waist length, distance between his nostrils, and various other random distances. As he measured he spoke "As I'm sure you know Mr. Potter, every Ollivander's wand is made from the core of a magical substance: either the Tail Feather of a Phoenix, a Unicorn Hair, or Dragon Heartstring. Just as no two Dragons, Unicorns, or Phoenixes are alike, no two wands are exactly alike either."

As he finished, he tossed the measuring tape aside, and James looked back at his mother, who was sitting in a chair in the back of the shop with Albus and Lily, who smiled at him encouragingly. As he did so, Mr. Ollivander had grabbed a small box off the shelf and handed it to him saying "Let's try this: holly and phoenix feather, very much like your fathers…" But almost the instant that James picked it up Mr. Ollivander snatched it back saying "No…no…very well then, let us try."

Mr. Ollivander plucked one wand after another off the shelves, but was never satisfied with the result. Finally, he paused and said "No…it cannot be." Without another word, he turned on the spot and disappeared into the back room of the shop. James looked at his father uncertainly, wondering what was going on. After nearly a minute had gone by, James was beginning to wonder if Mr. Ollivander was coming back, but just when he was about to begin to give up, the man burst through the door again, carrying another box with him. "Forgive me, I'd almost forgotten where I'd put it. But I never thought…never imagined that…" Without explaining further, he handed the wand to James expectantly. "Oak, with a Phoenix Feather Core, 11 ½ Inches in length." James took the wand, not sure what to expect, but from the moment that the wand entered his hand, he felt a rush of warmth coursing through him, and a rushing of wind through the shop as a light radiated from the tip of the wand…his wand?

Mr. Ollivander stood there for a moment, almost as though in shock, his face filled with disbelief and wonder. "Impossible!" he gasped, staring at James as though seeing him for the first time. Taking the wand from James he held it in his hands and said "This wand has a great destiny Mr. Potter, as it was created from the Tree of Magic by the ancient practitioners of magic millennia ago! The tree itself is gone, but the wands crafted from it remain. As far as I know, only three of them survived Medieval Times, and this is one of them." Handing the wand reverently back to James he said "This wand has chosen you James Potter, and it has done so for a reason. One thing is absolutely certain, a great and powerful destiny awaits you."


	4. Chapter 4: Portkeys and Promises

Chapter Four: Portkeys and Promises

As the weeks went by after the day that the Potters had gone to Diagon Alley, James had spent almost every waking moment wondering what Mr. Ollivander could possibly have meant. His father had whisked him out of the shop quickly after purchasing his wand, telling him that Mr. Ollivander was a tad bit eccentric, but for some reason James got the feeling that his father was afraid of something.

_A great and powerful destiny awaits you._ That was what Mr. Ollivander had said, but what did it mean? The question had haunted James thoughts constantly since that day, so much so that he once again forgot about the upcoming World Cup. When he was roughly shaken awake by his mother on the morning they were scheduled to leave, James pulled his pillow over his head grumbling "What time is it?" As his eyelids started to close again he suddenly remembered what day it was. "The Cup!" James exclaimed, sitting bolt upright, nearly knocking his mother over as he did so.

The family prepared as quickly as could be expected at such an early hour in the morning, and prepared to Floo over to their Grandmum's House. They were the only Wizarding family in the immediate area, and besides London was far too crowded with Muggles to arrange a Portkey. Instead, they were to Floo to the Burrow, from which they would grab a Portkey to the World Cup which was to be held in Ireland that year.

James never particularly liked travelling by Floo Powder, as he always ended up coated in soot and more often than not on the floor. However he had never been able to go to a World Cup before, the last one had been held when he was 7, but his parents had been unwilling to make the trip with 4-year-old Lily to look after. Albus was showing similar excitement, as both boys were staring intently at their father, waiting for him to finish getting ready.

You could not accuse the Potter children of lacking National Pride, as both boys were decked out in England National Team garb. James was wearing a Team England jersey and wore a head band at the base of his messy hair which displayed England's colors. Albus was wearing a shirt bearing the team's colors with the English Flag fluttering at the lapel, and was also wearing a hat that bore the names of the English players. Lily on the other hand was wearing the jersey that their mother, Ginny Potter, had worn when she led England to its last World Cup Victory in 2000.

Finally, after what seemed like an age, their father straightened up and slung his pack over his shoulder saying "Alright, we're good to go. Ginny why don't you go first with Lily, that way she doesn't get lost at the wrong gate." Lily was still too young to go through the Floo Network unattended, as she was only 8 years old and was afraid to go on her own. There was a swirl of flame as Lily disappeared with his mum, and James swallowed nervously.

Trying not to appear apprehensive, James took a handful of Floo Powder and stepped into the fireplace. Looking nervously at the chimney above him, James tossed the Powder downwards and cried "The Burrow!" The incredibly uncomfortable sensation that accompanied any trip by Floo Powder gripped him as he was sucked up into the Chimney, and swirled through the chaos of the Floor Network. Finally, he slid out the grate at his Grandparents' home, and it was over.

Coughing up soot, he looked up at his mother, who was staring down at him and shaking her head at his clumsiness he grinned sheepishly and said "Hey mum, I didn't get lost this time."

It was quite a sight to behold, the group of them climbing up the hill to where their Portkey was waiting. There were twenty of them in all: James, Albus, Lily, and their parents along with James' Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione and their two children, Rose and Hugo. Rose was the same age as Albus, and the pair got along very well. Rose looked very much like her mother, and her long brown hair hung casually over her shoulders. Hugo, on the other hand, looked more like his father, though perhaps without quite so many freckles. Then there was Uncle George and Aunt Angelina, along with their kids Fred and Roxanne, both of whom had flaming red hair, and enjoyed nothing more than joining James in his many escapades and pranks. Behind them walked James' Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur, whose part-Veela children Victoire, Dominique, and Louis were already fawned over despite their (apart from Victoire) tender ages. Beside Victoire walked Teddy Lupin, James' favorite person in the entire world who would be starting his 7th Year at Hogwarts in the fall and whose hair was currently a pleasant shade of blue. Bringing up the rear was James' quirky single Uncle Charlie, who James rarely saw because he was too caught up in his work with Dragons.

It was astonishing that the lot of them had all managed to get tickets, but then again the Potter-Weasley family was rather special in the Magical World. It had taken only minutes from the time that their father had Floo-ed the Department of Magical Games and Sports before the family had been supplied with a V.I.P. Box for the entire family. Only James' grandparents, due to their inability to spend so long in tents in their advanced age, and his Uncle Percy's family, because of his Uncle's lack of interest in Quidditch, were absent.

When they reached the top of the hill, James and Albus were still arguing about who was going to get to bunk with Teddy Lupin. "I'm the oldest, so I get to room with him!" James said, as though that settled everything. Albus though, was not so convinced about James' mere one-year-seniority playing as a get-whatever-I-want-card, as he shot back "Yea, well Teddy likes me best, so he's gonna bunk with me. That's OK though, you can bunk with Lily." He said, laughing at the thought of his brother and sister sharing a room. If the two managed to make it through the night without killing each other, he'd have been shocked.

They were still bickering in this matter when their father emerged from the top of the hillock and shouted down, "Oye you lot! Hurry up, we've found it!" James and Albus immediately fell silent and rushed up the hill with the rest of the party to where his father had beckoned them all to. To James, it looked like his father was just holding a rusty old tin can, but somehow his father knew that it was the Portkey that they were looking for. He would have to ask him how that was done someday.

The group gathered around the Portkey, which was more difficult than one would imagine considering that there were so many of them. Finally, after some jostling and shoving, everyone had a grip on at least a piece of the Portkey, with plenty of time to spare. "Just a few more seconds now, and we'll be off." Harry said, checking the watch that had once belonged to Fabian Prewitt. A few moments later, the can began to glow blue, and James braced himself for the Portkey's transporting, a sensation which he did not find much more pleasant than travelling by Floo Powder.

Second after the Portkey began to glow bright blue, James felt a hook beneath him lifting upwards and propelling them all through the air. The world around him swirled and shook as the two-dozen people gathered around the Portkey all struggled to keep themselves from being flung off. In retrospect, Portkeys were a rather dangerous method of travel, but there was simply no other reliable method of magical transport over such vast distances.

Finally, the ground rushed up to meet them, and the family crashed into the grassy plain below, now somewhere in an unpopulated region of Southern Ireland. The whole thing had taken months to set up, and even the Auror division had been involved in some capacity, as James could remember his father complaining about the complications involved in organizing the massive project that was the Quidditch World Cup.

"Ten o' clock from Ottery St. Catchpole." Said a bored disinterested voice as James began to get up and dust himself off. "You'd think there'd be an easier way than this to travel." Teddy Lupin grumbled as he got to his feet beside James. His words were met with grumbles of agreement from the rest of the family who slowly rose up off the ground and set off towards the campsite.

It took them only a matter of minutes to reach their campsite, during which time they were assaulted by crowds of people who recognized James' father. Some of them must have been friends of his, as he paused often to talk to them, but most were just random Witches and Wizards who wanted to get a chance to talk to the infamous 'Boy Who Lived'!

When finally they reached their assigned campsites, James helped his father unpack the four tents in which the family would be staying, and offered to try his hand at setting them up magically. Unfortunately, his attempt to practice magic was shot down by his father, who insisted that he would have to wait until he went to Hogwarts to start using magic. So James watched on bitterly as his father, his Uncle Ron, his Uncle Bill, and Teddy erected the tents with casual flicks of their wands. James' jealousy was noted by Teddy, who smiled encouragingly at James and said "It's only going to be a few more weeks, and then you'll be able to use magic too…at Hogwarts that is."

James knew that Teddy was right, but he had been waiting to be able to use magic for as long as he could possibly remember. And now, he could feel the power contained in the thin stick of wood in his pocket radiating outwards towards him, and he had to fight the urge to whip it out and begin casting whatever simple spells he could work out on his own.

The Potter-Weasley clan spent the remainder of the day around the campsite, rife with anticipation for the Match that would take place the very next day. The adults sat in one circle, talking about previous World Cup Matches, and whether England had a shot at beating the favored Italian Team. The children on the other hand, sat in a circle of their own some ways off, buzzing with excitement about their first trip to the World Cup (Teddy excepted, for whom this was his second) and how they were going to celebrate _when_ England inevitably beat Italy.

"Guys, you're not giving Italy enough credit." Teddy insisted, "They're a good team alright, they wouldn't be here if they weren't. I want England to win just as much as you guys do, but let's not jump on the bandwagon too quickly, so to speak." James, however, was having none of it. "Italy's pathetic!" he insisted, "They got through because of luck, England's got twice their talent!" The circle then dissolved into a series of smaller arguments over player abilities and team strengths and weaknesses, most of which were based on team-loyalties and personal opinions rather than actual fact.

Long after the sun had dipped below the horizon, the family went to pack it in for the night in their respective tents. James' mother and Aunts retiring to one of the tents, while his father and Uncles retired to another. That left the 11 children to fight over who got to sleep in which tent. It didn't take too long to decide that the five girls would take one tent, and the six boys would sleep in the other. However, when the six young boys entered their tent, that was where things stopped being so simple and easy.

Hugo and Fred immediately rushed off to one of the tent's three bedrooms before anyone could try and separate the two of them, which then left James and Albus to fight over who was going to get to bunk with Teddy. Poor Louis, the half-Veela child who was used to everyone fighting over him, was not accustomed to being ignored in favor of someone else, and the 7 year old boy's eyes began to swim with tears when James and Albus began shouting. "I'm sleeping with Teddy, not you! You can sleep with Louis!"

After about three minutes of this, Teddy grew fed up with this and said "Alright enough! When you two decide to act your age and quit arguing you two can bunk together, I'm rooming with Louis so that I can actually get some sleep tonight." Rolling his eyes at the two brother's senseless bickering, he gestured for Louis to follow him and went into the second bedroom, slamming the door behind them.

That left James and Albus standing alone the tent's common area, both glaring at the other in anger and disgust. In the minds of both boys, the other had robbed him of a chance to spend quality time that he rightfully deserved with his Godbrother, and neither was willing to concede that they had acted 'immature' as Teddy had suggested.

Finally, James rolled his eyes and said "Whatever Al, let's just get some sleep. I don't want to pass out midway through the Match." Before heading over to the last room and throwing himself onto the first bed in frustration and going to sleep. Not bothering to change into his PJs. Albus followed his other brother into the room a few moments later and rolled onto the second bed, thinking how unfair it was that he wasn't going to be able to spend some time with his Godbrother. He deserved it, James and Teddy were leaving for Hogwarts soon…and they would be together all year there, but Albus was going to be left behind.

_Then again,_ he thought, as he glanced at his brother's silently snoozing form in the bed across from him, _maybe I'd be better off trying to spend more time with James before he leaves_


	5. Chapter 5: The Quidditch World Cup

Chapter Five: The Quidditch World Cup

Day broke on the morning of the 427th Quidditch World Cup bright and sunny, perfect weather for a game of Quidditch, though the Match had been known to take place in stormy weather in the past. James and Albus did not speak as they woke and went out to the Common Area to meet up with the rest of the boys. However, before they reached the rest of the group, Teddy Lupin pulled them aside.

"Listen guys, you really upset Louie last night." Teddy said, looking at the two boys neither scolding nor judging them, but simply stating a fact. "Now you two need to stop acting like a bunch of five year olds before your parents see you doing something like what you did last night." That was all, no yelling, no 'I'm gonna tell your parents', just words…and that was why James and Albus had so much respect for Teddy. He didn't need to be a snitch, or a mini-adult to get his point across, he did it solely by the authority of his own words.

James and Albus exchanged glances, but said nothing. Teddy sighed and walked away, leaving the two brothers standing alone. Finally, it was James who broke the silence. "I reckon that you can bunk with Teddy tonight it you wanna." James said quietly, "I know that you're gonna miss him a lot more than you're going to miss me." Albus rolled his eyes at his brother's words, was he just trying to be overly dramatic, or was he really that stupid?

"Of course I'm not going to miss Teddy more than I'll miss you. You're my brother James, nothing is going to change that. Though it'd be nice if you were a little nicer to me from time to time." James said nothing, but laughed and punched his brother playfully on the shoulder. "We'll see." He said finally.

There was no sport in the world that could even remotely compare to Quidditch. There was no other sport that so completely captured the attention of the Wizarding World, and engrossed them the way that Quidditch did. The way that it captured all of their hearts, enthralled their imaginations, and united them as a people, could not be matched by any other sport in the world, whether wizard or muggle in nature.

"This is it!" James said excitedly, as the rather large group made their way down to the Pitch. James was always prone to getting over-excited about small and inconsequential things, so something as major as seeing his home country battle for the Quidditch World Cup was enough to completely send him through the roof. "We're going right?" he asked his father for the thousandth time, as though they could actually be heading anywhere else.

James' father did not answer his son, but instead told him, "Now listen to me James. There are going to be some other families in our Box with kids the same age as you. Now I know these people and you could make some friends before going to Hogwarts if you can keep yourself from acting like a complete fool."

But James was no longer listening to his father, as he was too busy discussing England's chances with his brother again. "No Al!" he exclaimed, "You're still not giving Wood enough credit! He's the better Keeper by a country mile, and that makes a huge difference!" Albus did not share his brother's enthusiastic backing of England's Keeper however, as he replied "Yea, but he'd so _old_ he's probably not as quick as he used to be! I mean, he went to school with dad!" Albus exclaimed, as if that made someone positively ancient.

This arguing continued all the way up to the Box, with Teddy Hugo and Fred occasionally giving their opinion on the matter, which was quite a ways considering that theirs was one of the uppermost Boxes in the Pitch. When finally they reached the Box, all of the boys fell silent as their gaze came to rest upon the Pitch before them. From where they stood, they could see the entire Arena, and it was absolutely _enormous_! They had heard that it could hold over 100,000 people, but they had not been able to picture something so big up until now. "Bloody hell!" Hugo exclaimed, "This thing is huge! How on earth did they build something so big so quickly?"

All around the Pitch they could hear the excited shouting of over a hundred thousand patrons, all of whom were waiting breathlessly for the start of the game. Finally, James was interrupted from his observations of the Pitch by the entrance of five more people into the box. At first his gaze rested on the parents, both of whom he could have sworn he'd seen somewhere at the Ministry before, but he quickly passed over them until he saw the three children following them.

The first one could not have been older than six or seven years old, and a pair of hard brown eyes poked out from beneath his short blonde hair as he fretfully held his mother's hand. The daughter, who looked about two years younger than James had long brown hair that was tied back in a pony-tail, and soft brown eyes that could melt her parent's hearts. Their third child, a son, was probably the same age as James, and his sharp blue eyes darted around the Box from underneath his shaggy blonde hair. His eyes darted around the many faces in the Box before finally coming to rest on James. The two stared at each other for a moment, and then both looked away, knowing that the other boy had noticed them staring.

James' father dragged him over to the front of the Box, where the rest of his family was already waiting. His father was obsessive over politeness and introductions, which James found unbearably boring. Still, it would be nice to know more about this boy…whoever he might be, he was going to need some friends when he went to Hogwarts.

"Kids, I'd like you to meet Mr. and Mrs. Knight, they are very close friends of mine from work. Steve, Christina these are my kids: James, Albus, and Lily." After shaking hands with the kindly old couple, James looked impatiently back up at his father, waiting for him to finish with the introductions. "James this is Andrew, he's starting Hogwarts in the Fall as well. And Julie is the same age as you are Albus." Mr. Knight said, introducing the children to each other. "And this little guy here is Julian." He said, rustling the perfectly-combed hair of his youngest child who groaned and began straightening it again.

After a long and tedious series of introductions to other important Ministry people and his father's co-workers, James and Albus slipped aside motioning for Andrew and Julie Knight to follow them. James had been worried about not having any friends when he went to Hogwarts, so the possibility of there already being someone his own age that he knew once he got there was something that he wanted to make sure happened.

"So, you're Andrew?" James asked awkwardly, not really sure how to initiate a conversation; a feeling evidently shared by Andrew who merely nodded and stuffed his hands into his pockets. Glancing over his shoulder, James scowled to see that his brother was already seated next to Julie Knight and the two were already engaged in an animated conversation. His brother had always been a better conversationalist than he was.

Angry that his younger brother was having an easier time socializing and making friends than he was, James scrambled for something to talk about with the other boy. Finally, James gestured to the Pitch and asked "So, what do you think of England's chances?" It was the most obvious way to go with the conversation, and not exactly very original, but it was still the only thing that he could come up with at the time. "Oh it's in the bag!" Andrew said, with exactly the same tone of confidence that James had been proclaiming England's sure-fire victory a few hours earlier. "England's got better players at every position; I don't know why they haven't engraved their names on the trophy already." Andrew continued, at which James' jaw dropped, this kid sounded exactly like him! Maybe this whole thing was going to be a lot easier than he thought.

Less than five minutes later, James and Andrew had settled into their seats and were loudly discussing England's chances in the upcoming Match. After a few minutes had gone by they had run out of Quidditch related subjects to discuss and the conversation had changed to Hogwarts and Houses. It turned out that both of Andrew's parents had been in Ravenclaw, but he didn't have even the slightest impression that he was ever going to end up there. James was sympathetic to Andrew's dilemma, but could not really empathize with it. Both of James' parents, and just about all of his relatives since forever, had been in Gryffindor and James felt that he was right in line to follow in their footsteps.

They talked about Hogwarts for the next hour, but then fell silent along with the rest of the Pitch as the two teams took to the Pitch. James and Albus leapt up in their seats and cheered boisterously as England's team flew out onto the Pitch. All around the Pitch, partisans of both sides were cheering and booing the respective National Clubs. The Italian Team took to the Pitch a few minutes later, and the cheering and booing reversed pace.

It was Quidditch the likes of which James had never seen before, the action was faster, quicker, and more brutal than any that James had ever seen in his entire life. The players were no more than red and white blurs as they sped around the pitch on their brooms at unbelievable speeds. James had never even reached speeds half as fast on his Uncles' brooms when he 'borrowed' them to go practice in the hedgerows behind the Burrow.

It was 70-100 Italy, the game was much closer than James and Andrew would have thought before the game had started. Despite their assertions that England would have no problem disposing of the inferior Italian squad, the English Team was slowly collapsing. The only thing that was keeping them in the game was the remarkable play of English Keeper Oliver Wood. The Italians were firing more than twice as many shots at him than the English Team was throwing at the other end, but Wood was holding down the fort as he had been all tournament long.

The unusual thing had been the inactivity of the two Seekers, who were generally considered to be the two best in the entire game. However there had been not even the slightest trace of the Snitch all game. "No sign of the Snitch yet, neither of the Seekers have even moved yet." Andrew commented, as he had been following the two Seekers for most of the game, waiting for one of them to make the first move after the Snitch. But so far, neither had done much more than circle the Pitch sweeping their gaze to all sides.

Then, all of a sudden, Andrew leapt up in his seat and pointed "Look! Marino's seen the Snitch!" James spun on the spot, it could not be true, but it was! The Italian Seeker was bearing down on the Snitch, he was only feet away…and Walker was nowhere near him. But then, out of nowhere, something impossible happened! In his desperate flight after the Snitch, Marino had forgotten to pay attention to his surroundings, and a Bludger desperately pelted at him by an English Beater slammed into his side, knocking him sideways off his broom.

As Marino fell the remaining ten feet to the ground, Walker zoomed on, closing his fingers around the tiny golden ball and raising it in the air for all to see!

The Pitch exploded in a furor of cheers as the English supporters leapt to their feet and yelled their approval. James and Albus leapt into the air and hugged, "WE WON! WE WON!" they yelled, equating the English Victory to an accomplishment of their own. Andrew was jumping in the air as well, and he and James high-fived in jubilation.

As the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports presented the Quidditch World Cup to English Captain Oliver Wood, who hoisted it over his head, the cheers grew even louder, as the half of the crowd backing England renewed their cheers and yells.

"The winner of the Four-Hundred and Twenty-Seventh Quidditch World Cup: ENGLAND!" Roared the magically amplified voice as James, Albus, and Andrew yelled themselves hoarse along with the rest of the English fans.


	6. Chapter 6: Maps and Mayhem

Chapter Six: Maps and Mayhem

In the aftermath of Englands' dramatic World Cup Victory, James and Albus had bade the Knight children farewell before heading back to their tent for the night, they would need to get up again early the next morning for their return Portkey. However, from the moment that the family returned to the tents, sleep was the very last thing on their minds. In their tent, the boys were already going over the Match's highlights in graphic detail. "Did you hear the crunch when Marino ate that Bludger?" Hugo roared enthusiastically, to which the others all nodded and laughed in remembrance.

James and Albus had lost their voices screaming in the aftermath of England's Victory, and had not spoken very much. However, James had not been able to resist a rousing chorus of "I told you so!" even though the Match had been excruciatingly close. As the night went on, Hugo, Fred, and Louis all trudged off to bed, the younger children unable to keep their eyelids open for any longer. As a result, after only a few hours, only James Albus and Teddy remained in the tent's common area to discuss the exciting Match.

Some time after the others had gone off to bed, Albus grumbled something about needing to go off to the bathroom before he went to bed, leaving just James and Teddy in the common area. Apparently, this was exactly the moment that Teddy had been waiting for, as he turned to James and said "So, you ready to go to Hogwarts kid?" Too tired and hoarse to speak, James just nodded, wondering where Teddy was going.

Of course he was excited to be going to Hogwarts, what kind of stupid question was that? He had talked of nothing else since he'd turned eleven that April, and ever since his letter had come that summer he had been told by no fewer than a dozen people that he needed to stop talking about it every five seconds.

"Well, if you'd be interested James, my friends and I are kind of one prankster short. And we could always use a little guy who can avoid notice by teachers." Teddy said a moment later, looking down at James with a grin that showed that he knew exactly how much this would mean to James. "Are you kidding?" James said, his throat burning as he did so, and jumped up to hug Teddy and said "Heck yes! I'd love to!"

Teddy laughed at James' enthusiasm and said "That's great, but of course, you'd have to be willing to break the rules and get in trouble." However, James merely scoffed and said "Yea, like that's anything but a bonus!" He could scarcely believe what he was hearing; Teddy Lupin thought that he, James Potter, was cool enough to be included in his posy of rule-breakers!

James had always looked at Teddy as the coolest person in the entire world, and the fact that Teddy, who was 17 after all, wanted to hang out with James, who was only 11, in front of all of his Hogwarts friends meant the world to him. As they sat there talking, James was determined to be the best troublemaker that Hogwarts had ever seen! He was going to be such a great prankster that Teddy's friends would all see how cool he was, and that Teddy was right in inviting him to join the group.

A few moments later, Albus returned to the tent and said "Hey James, mum and dad wants you to come say goodnight." James rolled his eyes at his parent's over protectiveness and got up to go satisfy his parent's insane habits, as Albus told him "They're both in the First Tent."

Pushing the entrance-flap aside, James peeked out of the tent and saw magical fireworks still going off in the distance as some of the older supporters of the English Team were still celebrating the victory. James grinned; it had been a spectacular Match! He was going to have to remember to thank his parents for getting those tickets, which could not have been an easy thing to manage with all of them.

He passed the girl's tent, which was completely silent. Undoubtedly the girls had all long since gone to sleep. Victoire and Dominique were not the biggest fans of Quidditch, and Roxanne was too young to be much of a conversationalist. That would have left just Lily and Rose to discuss the Match, but those two talked so quickly that they had probably discussed every facet of the Match in seven seconds.

As he reached the Second Tent, he heard voices coming from inside and realized that most of the parents were all still awake. He was just about to open the flap and go inside when he heard his name. Pausing with his hand inches away from the door-flap, James leaned closer to hear better. His Uncle George was talking, to his father he assumed, and the things he was saying were unbelievable to James.

"So Harry, what of it? Are you going to give James the Map or not?" his Uncle George was saying. "It's not doing anything just sitting up in your desk, and I'm certain that James would put it to good use." There was something about the way that his Uncle George said those last words that made James realize that his 'Map' was definitely not an ordinary object.

"What exactly is that Map anyway?" asked a voice he recognized instantly as his mother's, "You never really explained it to me." There was a silence before his father spoke again. "He's talking about the Marauder's Map. Your brothers gave it to me in my Third Year so that I could sneak into Hogsmeade. It shows all the secret passageways at Hogwarts, and the location of all the students." Pausing for a moment, his father's voice continued "Though they never knew, it was my father and his friends who made the Map. Sirius, Lupin, and Pettigrew helped him."

James could not suppress a gasp at his father's revelations; a Map that showed all the people and secret passageways in Hogwarts! A Map made by his two namesakes! He knew immediately that this was something that he absolutely _had_ to get his hands on! Practically shaking with excitement, James pressed his ear closer to the tent flap and continued listening.

"I'm not giving that to James!" his father said furiously, "Could you imagine what James would do with that thing? Why, he'd never get any work done he'd be so busy trying to find every secret passageway in the whole Castle!"

James could not help but laugh at his father's reaction, it was true. But still, that was no reason to keep the Map from him! What use was it to his father? Sitting in an old desk gathering dust, it was a crime to do such a thing to such a useful magical object! The mere prospect of what he could do with this Map was making him drool.

"Aw, you say that like it's a bad thing Harry! What's happened to you? The Harry Potter I knew would have been thrilled to think that his son was having such a good time at Hogwarts!" his Uncle George said indignantly. To which his father shot back, "I grew up George, something that you seemingly haven't! I want my son to have a good education, and he's not going to get that if he's too busy running around the Castle with that Map! Maybe when he's older I'll let him have it."

There it was again, 'Be good and get good grades James, and maybe we'll let you have some fun when you're older.' No! He wasn't going to wait until he was older. Maybe there was nothing he could do about the broomstick, but if his father wasn't going to give him this Map, then he was just going to have to take it!

He waited until the adults had moved on to a different topic of conversation before entering the tent to bid his parents good-night, that way they would have no reason to suspect that he had overheard. After dealing with his mother's clingy kisses goodnight, James gave quick hugs to all the rest of his Aunts and Uncles before leaving the tent and going back to his own. However, he had done something that had escaped the notice of his parents. When he'd hugged his Uncle George, he'd slipped a small scrap of parchment into his hand and whispered "Wait till my parents aren't around."

Written on that small scrap of parchment was:

I heard you talking about the Map, and I don't care what my parents say, I'm going to get my hands on that thing if it kills me! Do you know where my dad has it hidden and what it looks like?

James

After slipping his Uncle George the note, James had gone to bed reasonably assured that he would get his answer soon enough, and that the Map would be in his possession by the time he left for Hogwarts! After all, he had always been great at getting away with things without his parents finding out about it, why should this be any different?

The next morning, Uncle George made an excuse to go off with James while the others were packing up camp, by suggesting that the pair of them go and find out what time their Portkey would be leaving. The moment that they had left the others behind, James' Uncle George began speaking.

"I'm very proud to see that you've gotten your priorities straight young James." He said, "For some reason your father seems to think that you'd be better off studying and nonsense like that." The pair both shuddered at the thought and Uncle George proceeded to tell James all about the Map.

"It looks like a bunch of folded sheets of Parchment." He explained to James, "But don't be fooled. You just have to tap it with your wand and say 'I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good' and the Map will appear. Once you're done, just say 'Mischief Managed' and it'll wipe itself blank again."

As they walked Uncle George explained all of the Map's useful features, including that it could still detect people wearing invisibility cloaks, along with its few limitations. He also told James, most importantly of all, where his father had hidden the Map…the one piece of information that James had most desperately been searching for.

"Your dad said that the Map is somewhere in his study." He told James, "But other than that he wasn't very specific. However, from what he said I think it's definitely in one of the drawers of his desk." James nodded, already formulating a plan which would allow him to get into his father's study without being caught. He would only need a few minutes, once inside, to search through his father's desk thoroughly enough to find the Map.

As they returned to the campsite, James' Uncle George clasped him on the shoulder and said "James Sirius Potter, I think that both of your namesakes would be very proud of you. But more importantly, I'm very proud of you, but the help that I give you I give with three conditions attached to it." Suddenly apprehensive, as to what his Uncle might ask of him, James nodded slowly.

"Number one," his Uncle began, "that you never become a dried-up boring rule-follower who thinks that breaking the rules is a terrible thing to do. Number two, that you pass on your knowledge of troublemaking to your siblings and cousins when they go to Hogwarts." James was beginning to laugh, but his Uncle George silenced him and said "And lastly, and most importantly, that if someday you have children who are going to Hogwarts. You give the Map to them, rather than hide it like your father."

James nodded immediately, not even needing to think about any of those 'conditions' and the pair returned to the campsite laughing at their cleverness as they reported to the rest of those assembled that their Portkey was scheduled to leave at precisely twelve o' clock, noon.

The door in Harry Potter's study was slightly ajar, leaving the magical protections set around it useless to prevent an intruder from entering. A small figure, clothed entirely in black, swept through the doorway and into the study, which was dimly light and musty smelling. The figure wasted no time, but walked purposefully straight up to the desk that was situated at the far end of the room.

It took the figure only a matter of seconds of rustling through the drawers before he found what he was looking for. Drawing an intricately folded pad of parchment from the drawer, the figure pointed his wand at the parchment and muttered "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good."

Instantly lines began to spread across the Parchment, spreading out into the shape of a Castle, in which around seven or eight dots wandered around. The front of the Parchment read:

_Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs_

_Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief Makers_

_Are proud to present you with The Marauder's Map_

The figure threw back his hood to reveal a crop of messy brown hair, underneath which a pair of brown eyes sparkled with success and accomplishment. Tucking the Map into the back pocket of his jeans, James Potter strode victoriously from his father's study.


	7. Chapter 7: Platform Nine & ThreeQuarters

Chapter Seven: Platform Nine and Three-Quarters

James' last few weeks at home could not have gone by slower, for some reason every day for the remainder of James' time before leaving for Hogwarts felt like an eternity. Every day that went by, he mentally counted down the steadily shrinking number of days that remained until he could finally go to Hogwarts just like his parents, and like Teddy.

In order to relieve his frustration at the slow passage of the days before he too could go to Hogwarts, James started taunting his brother with the stories of all the adventures that he thought he was going to have. Of course, that wasn't exactly the way that he put it when he told them to his brother.

"And every morning I'm gonna go to the Forbidden Forest and fight off a gang of murderous Werewolves!" James bragged to his brother, ignoring the fact that doing so would be rather difficult considering that Werewolves only appeared during the Full Moon. "And then I'm gonna…" it went on and on for hours, during which time Albus generally was reduced to running from the room in fury. Of course, that left James lonely most of the time as there was really no one else to talk to.

More than once he had considered sending an owl to Andrew, asking how his summer was going, but unfortunately he had forgotten to ask the other boy for his address, and he didn't trust his new owl's ability to find him without more information than just a name. Once or twice he had considered asking his father where the Knights lived, but he hadn't been able to swallow his pride and admit that he'd forgotten to ask something so simple.

So instead, he spent most of the remainder of the summer trying to find anything that could possibly take up his time and fill those endless hours until September 1st. At times, he got so bored that he even forgot that he was supposed to be mean to his brother, and instead started actively seeking out something to do with Albus. Of course, such sibling-bonding-time was invariably followed by more teasing from James, which meant that Albus was rather distrustful of James towards the end of the summer.

"Hey Al, you wanna go play some Exploding Snap?" James had asked one morning, only to have Albus angrily grumble "Yea right, so you can throw the cards in my face right before they explode again? No thanks!" and then stalk off, leaving James alone on the landing.

Finally, the morning of September 1st arrived, and the Potter family set out for King's Cross Station. Even though he had never been there before, James had heard all about the entryway from Teddy Lupin, and was determined to prove how cool and tough he was by running straight at the barrier without flinching on his first time.

However, when they arrived at the wall, James was not so sure. Despite what everyone had told him, the wall looked completely solid. What if they were pulling a fast one on him? What if they wanted him to slam straight into the wall to make him look foolish? "Alright James, you want to go first?" his father asked, to which James nodded slowly and pushed his trolley towards the wall.

Lining up with the wall in front of him, James took a deep breath. Was it really worth it to take it at a run? What if it really was a wall, he would probably break every bone in his body trying to run through that thing! But still, he had said that he wasn't going to be afraid of the barrier, and if he backed down now and took it slowly he would just look like a coward. He had no choice but to take it at a run, and hope that everything worked out for the best. After all, a broken bone was better than a shattered reputation.

Swallowing nervously, James broke into a run towards the barrier in front of him, closing his eyes as the sheer brick wall rushed up to meet him…bracing himself for the impact. But the bone-jarring impact that James had been waiting for never came, as James passed right through the wall. Opening his eyes, James let out a quiet shout of excitement when he saw the Scarlett Engine ahead of him. He had done it! He had actually done it! Now all of his fears about slamming into the wall seemed stupid and childish, of course it wasn't really there!

A few moments later, his father came through the barricade, leading a trembling Albus who was holding his arms out in front of him as though to ward off a blow of some kind. "Hey Al, look out for the second wall!" James cried out, and his brother immediately shielded his face again before realizing that James was messing with him and glaring menacingly at his older brother.

"So, you weren't scared at all?" his father asked, although something in his tone of voice gave James the impression that he somehow knew about James' last minute hesitation. However, he was never going to admit to such shameful fears, and replied "Nope, it was easy! I'm not a pansy like Al."

He was spared having to listen to his brother's retort as his mother came through the barrier at that moment, carrying a violently protesting Lily, who was still insisting that they were going to slam into the wall and die. James and Albus both found this terribly funny, and were laughing hysterically while their parents tried to calm their sister down.

Once they finally had Lily convinced that she was safe and fine, both of James' parents turned their attention to him. Though he was eager to be off, he could see that his parents had something important to say, and that he would regret it if he tried to rush them.

"James," his father began, "this is a big day for you. You're going off to Hogwarts, where you're gonna make new friends, and learn all sorts of new things. But you're also going to be on your own. That means that your mom and I won't be there to make sure that you eat right, and do your homework, and study, and behave. But we trust you to do the right thing, OK?"

James stifled a small laugh, trust him to do the right thing? That was about as smart as trusting Uncle George with a box full of explosives. Still, he supposed that he would have to convince his parents that he would, or else they might not let him go.

"I promise dad." James said, beaming and trying to hide the malicious glint in his eyes. However, his father must have seen James' thoughts etched on his face, as he replied "Yea…I thought so. Just try not to get in too much trouble James. And please, please just do all your work."

James nodded again, and started to turn away but a hand grabbed him on the shoulder and spun him around. It was his mother, and she was staring at him, teary-eyed as she said "Oh! My little baby is going to Hogwarts!" His mother then proceeded to grab him in a hug and weep about how much he'd grown up.

"I remember…don't you remember…when he was so small, he always used to be afraid of thunderstorms. What if there's a thunderstorm while he's at Hogwarts, and I won't be able to help him…my little Jamie-kins"

James was aghast; there were _people_ on the platform! People who were going to be at Hogwarts with him! And his mother was now making a big spectacle out of the whole thing, as if a hug wasn't bad enough!

Trying furiously to extricate himself from his mother's grip he said "Mum I haven't been scared of those since I was five! I'll be fine, now can you please stop, people are looking!" Finally, James managed to pull himself away, and his mother had calmed down some.

"Promise you'll write us often!" she pleaded as she kissed James goodbye, to which James rolled his eyes and said "Yea, sure thing mum. At least once a week, how's that sound?" However, quietly, he thought that there was no way that he was writing more than once or twice a month.

"Have fun sitting at home Al!" James said as he gave his brother one last hug, and punch, goodbye. And, stopping only to tell his sister not to cry over him _every _day, he took off before his parents could try and stop him again.

Once he had gotten onto the train, James began to look around for a compartment. It didn't take him very long before he spotted Teddy Lupin's bright tuft of blue hair sticking out from the crowd, and he rushed over to where his Godbrother was standing talking to two of his friends. "Hey Teddy!" James called out as he approached his Godbrother and his two friends.

Teddy at first seemed rather shocked to see James, but then it seemed he remembered why James was on the train. "Hey James, you managed not to get yourself killed by your parents! Nice job, my Grandmum said your parents were complaining that they were ready to murder you after a while." Laughing at his joke, he added, "Guys, this is my cousin James Potter. James these are my mates Jay Carpenter and Andy Mandarin." James didn't know why Teddy always referred to them as cousins, but then again they were practically family.

Teddy's friends, at least in terms of appearance, could not have been more different. Jay was tall, light-skinned, and had a short crop of blonde hair. Andy on the other hand was tan, muscular, and had a long mane of brown hair. Neither of the two boys seemed very interested in James, and only glanced at him for a moment before returning their attention to Teddy.

"So, are you having trouble finding a compartment or something?" Teddy asked, "I'd have thought that, you being you, you'd have kids fighting over who gets to sit with you." At first, James had no idea what Teddy was talking about. But as comprehension gathered his heart sank like a stone.

"You mean I can't sit with you?" James asked in a small, hurt voice. He had thought that Teddy viewed him as cool, as one of his gang; and that he would be able to hang out with Teddy and his friends at Hogwarts. Now, he was being shunned…cast aside, by his idol.

"James, you have to make your own friends…friends your own age, at some point." Teddy told him, not realizing how much hurt he was causing the small boy. "Go on, I'll see you at the Castle. Oh, and try not to mention your name until _after_ the other kids start talking to you. Trust me, you don't want the hassle."

James nodded half-heartedly and turned away from Teddy and his friends, continuing to walk along the train's narrow corridor. The train was starting to fill up now, and would be pulling out of the station soon. James hoped that he would be able to find a compartment before the train left; otherwise it'd probably be filled up everywhere.

_Andrew and Jay_, why was Teddy hanging around with losers like them? James was far cooler than either of those two saps! "Buncha jerks!" James muttered to himself as he swung open the door to and empty compartment and went inside. "If anyone wants to talk to me," James grumbled as he sat down, "Then that can come and talk to me themselves!"

In all fairness, Teddy was right, James really did need to make his own friends, but James didn't see it like that. He saw it as Teddy abandoning him for someone else, just because they were older than he was! It was like being betrayed!

"I'm just as much fun to be around as they are." James grumbled to himself as he crossed his arms and stared out the window angrily.


	8. Chapter 8: The Hogwarts Express

Chapter Eight: The Hogwarts Express

James was interrupted in his grumbling when the compartment door opened and a familiar voice filled his ears. "Well look who it is!" the voice said, to which James looked up and grinned "Jeez Andrew, what took you so long?"

Andrew Knight, stood in the entryway to the compartment, laughing as he asked "What are you doing all by yourself? Come on, there's a bunch of other First Years in the next compartment, come sit with us."

James shrugged, deciding that he should probably do as Teddy said and try and make some friends his own age. That way, when Teddy came to him for something, he could get back by blowing him off to be with his new friends. Yea, that would work, James decided as he followed Andrew to the next compartment.

James had been expecting to see perhaps one of two other people in the compartment, instead he found one that was full to bursting with six other kids his age, leaning back on their seats and loudly talking to one another. It was impossible to make out what was being said, as there were no fewer than four conversations going on simultaneously.

"OI, can it!" Andrew yelled, and the compartment grew silent as everyone stared up at him. "Alright, so we're all going to be First Years, so I figure that we may as well get to know each other. My name is Andrew Knight."

No one in the compartment felt willing to follow Andrew's lead, as they all just sat there in silence. After the pause had stretched to several seconds, James finally spoke, "I'm James Potter."

About half the people in the compartment immediately turned at James in shock, as though not believing the words that had come out of his mouth. The other half, presumably those who were muggle born, just looked at the floor.

Finally, one of the kids who had not been staring at him, a short boy with curly brown hair and blue eyes that looked like they were trying to burn a hole in the wall, said in a rather strange accent "My names Jeremey, Jeremey Hall. So tell me James, is your father really him, eh?" A few people in the compartment sniggered, and Jeremey went red before James answered simply "Yea, he is." The silence stretched out for longer before Andrew asked "Where you from Jeremey? You don't sound British, if you don't mind me saying."

Jeremey shrugged and said "Well, that's because I ain't from here isn't it? Nah, I'm Canadian if you must know. But we don't really have any good Wizarding schools there, and my parents don't trust anything in the States, so they sent me here."

This time, the silence was much less pronounced before another boy, this one was slightly taller and had neat-clean-cut hair that looked like he had spent all morning on it, said "It's alright bud. I'm not British either. My name's Christian, Christian Kennedy. I'm from Massachusetts…that's in the States."

"Why aren't you in Salem then?" a round-faced, freckle-covered boy asked immediately. To which Christian replied "Well, I was. Their Term starts in May you see, but I kinda got chucked out." He said, staring at the ground as though ashamed of what he was saying, which admittedly he probably was.

The rest of the students introduced themselves around the circle. The round-faced boy with all the freckles was Zach Tolentino, a boy who seemed to enjoy poking his nose into other people's business. Beside him sat Dwayne Powelly, a tall lanky boy who had been born in Texas but had moved with his parents to the English countryside a few years before.

On Dwayne's other side was Jocelyn Marsh, a muggle born girl with long black hair and skin that was smooth as a newborn babe's. She was rather quiet and timid, which was probably because she had no prior knowledge of the Magical World. On her other side was Elizabeth Robinson, a red-haired girl whose visage was pockmarked with pimples. Like Jocelyn she didn't say very much, but as she was Half-Blood it was probably because of shyness.

Then there was Nick Aten, a Pure-Blood boy whose entire family had been in Slytherin for as long as anyone could remember. James had been rather distant to the dark fellow with brooding green eyes after that, but had grown considerably warmer to the boy once he mentioned that he didn't want to end up like the rest of his family.

On Nick's other side was Jason Malloy, a tanned boy with bright blue eyes and long brown dreadlocks. Unlike Nick, Jason seemed to attract other people's attention, and was very loud and boisterous in his opinions. He had been getting on rather well with Paul O'Reilly, the Ireland native who was sitting on his other side. Paul had long messy brown hair that hung around shoulder length, which was even funnier when one saw how short the boy was.

The last person in the compartment was Erin Malloy, Jason's twin sister. If they hadn't told him so, James would never have suspected that the two were related, let alone twins. The two were polar opposites of each other, both in appearance and in bearing. Erin was quiet and didn't draw attention to herself, but one could see that she was definitely a sporty tom-boy. Her blonde hair hung in a sports-band, and she didn't speak to anyone who didn't directly address her first.

The group of First Years had begun discussing Houses, a subject that had dominated the minds of most of them. Some, like James, had no doubts of where they would end up, whilst others were frightened to death by the prospect. "My parents will kill me if I'm not in Slytherin!" Nick protested, "Disown me even! But I don't want to be in Slytherin! I'm not a Pure-Bloodist, I would never fit in with the rest of them."

The others concerns were not quite as severe as Nicks, but plenty of them had preferences and dreams, and fears. "So long as I'm not in the same House as my stupid sister, I don't care where you put me." Jason said evenly, for which he received a sharp kick to the leg from Erin.

James was about to say that anyone who wanted to be in a House besides Gryffindor was out of his mind, when the door of the compartment burst open and two small figures rushed inside, closing the door behind them and collapsing to the floor on the spot.

The first was a boy with long black hair, and a jagged scar running down his left cheek. He was at least three inches taller than James, which was still not that tall, and his expression was one of absolute terror. The second was a girl with dark skin and a leering brooding complexion. She looked less scared, and more extremely angry in ways that words could not describe. The pair were seated on the compartment floor, leaning up against the door.

"Um…who the hell are you?" Andrew blurted out, expressing the alarm that the eight of them in the compartment had all felt at the sudden entrance of the two others. "My name's Leon." The boy said, panting for breath, "Leon Bartlett. This is Nicolette, Nicolette Evermore. She'd introduce herself but her English isn't all that good since she's from Russia originally."

"That's great." Said Jeremey, "But what are you doing in our compartment, eh?" he asked, his Canadian accent causing Leon to snigger before answering.

"We're hiding, from a bunch of older students." Leon explained, "They're going up and down the hallways jinxing any First Years that get in their path! Nicolette got in the way of a bad stinging hex earlier so she's a bit out of it at the moment."

At that moment, three figured passed by the compartment, looking in all directions as though hunting down an elusive prey. All three had wands drawn, and would probably have towered over James by at least a foot and a half. At first it looked like they were going to pass the compartment by, but at the last second, they stopped and pulled the door open.

As one, all of the first years in the compartment leapt to their feet, some drawing wands others baring their hands into fists. "What do you jerk-offs want?" James spat bitterly, fingers tightening around the Oak shaft of his wand.

"Now now, is that any way to introduce yourselves? My, these First Years need to be taught a lesson in respect." Said the tall boy standing in the middle. He was probable at least six feet tall, and had short blonde hair that was buzzed off military-style, his two companions both looked the same: tall, muscular, and with similarly cut black hair.

"My name is Remington Parker." The boy said, leering at James, "But unless you want to get Cursed into next week, you'll refer to me as Mr. Parker." His friends then introduced themselves as Anthony Pearce and Gregory Tucker, but James wasn't listening at this point. He was too busy trying to remember one of those Curses that he had been reading in his schoolbooks. Unfortunately, Standard Book of Spells: Year One didn't carry much in the way of offensive magic.

Remington pointed down at Leon and said "Tell you what, just hand over the runt and I'll leave you kiddies alone to hug your blankies in peace." No one spoke, the silence hung over the compartment like a stifling, choking, menace. "No!" someone shouted at last. James looked over his shoulder and saw it was Zach who had spoken. "Just get out of here before I knock your teeth out!" the boy said.

Remington stared at the boy with a mixture of revulsion and surprise. Despite himself, it looked like the older boy was somewhat impressed by Zach's defiance of him. "Stupefy!" he barked, jabbing his wand like a saber towards the boy.

Zach's eyes widened in shock and the boy slammed against the wall and crumpled like a rag doll as a jet of red light coming from Remington's wand hit him square in the chest.

Remington laughed, a cold and hard laugh, before turning around and sweeping from the compartment with a backwards shout of "And let that serve as a lesson to you. Remington Parker rules this school, and that's something that you're all going to have to learn sooner or later. And for your own sakes, it had better be sooner!"

As the compartment door slammed closed behind him, the First Years rushed over to where Zach's limp form lay. "Does anyone know how to revive someone who's been stunned?" Erin asked as she brushed the boy's shaggy hair out of his eyes.

Unfortunately, none of the students knew a spell that would awaken someone who had been stunned, and no one wanted to go to a teacher because they would have to admit that they had been 'fighting', for lack of a better term, and not even James wanted to get into trouble before they had even arrived at the Castle.

"I suppose that we're just gonna have to wait for him to wake up on his own." Nick said, to which the rest of the group readily agreed. "How long does it take for someone to come round after being stunned?" Erin said, interrupting their supporting of the plan. Unfortunately, no one knew the answer to this question either.

Zach was propped up in his seat by the others so that he would appear to only be asleep, and in the meantime Nick and Jocelyn scoured their spellbooks for anything that could help them awaken Zach. Jeremey had proposed pouring cold water over the boy's head, but other than getting everyone else rather wet in the process, it did not accomplish much.

Around the time that the Trolley-Lady was coming down the corridor, Zach had begun to stir and mumble. What exactly he was saying no one could figure out, but it was definitely something to do with some bizarre dream he must have been having. "What's that he's saying?" Paul asked, looking up from Standard Book of Spells: Year One. "Something about monkeys I think." Christian replied a moment later. "The kid's barking mad! Monkeys, I ask you." James said, rolling his eyes at the boy's theatrics.

In actuality James, and probably several of the other boys were feeling the same way, wished that he had been the one who had thought to step up and say something. That he had been the one to get stunned, not because he was upset that Zach had gone through something like that, but because he wanted to be the action-hero.

"The moment we get up to the Castle, everyone's gonna be all over him once they find out about this." Jeremey muttered to Andrew, who nodded and glanced sideways at James asking "Are we going to let people find out about this?"

James shrugged and said "I dunno if it's up to us. If I were him," he gestured to Zach at this point, "I'd be bragging about it to anyone that'd listen to me."

At that moment, the compartment door opened again, much less violently this time, and the Trolley-Lady poked her head in asking "Anything off the Trolley dears?"

Almost at that exact same instant, Zach burst upright in his seat and yelled "No! Just get out of here before I knock your teeth out!" the same words he had spoken just before getting knocked out.

At first, everyone sat there, staring at Zach who immediately began growing red. But then James broke the silence by bursting out laughing. "Perfect timing Zachary!" James roared, patting the boy on the back as he doubled over laughing. Soon the entire compartment was filled with the sound of laughter as the Scarlett Engine steamed towards Hogwarts Castle.


	9. Chapter 9: The Sorting

Chapter Nine: The Sorting

The sun had long since vanished beneath mountains by the time Hogwarts came into sight. The students had taken the opportunity after Zach had awoken to change into their robes, as they knew that they would be expected to be wearing their uniforms when they arrived at the Castle.

As the Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogsmeade Station, James and the other First Years stumbled off the train, wondering where they were supposed to go. It was only then that James realized he had failed to ask his father what he was supposed to do when he got off the train. However, he was relieved when he heard a familiar voice booming out from up ahead. "First Years over here!"

James sniggered to himself and grabbed the sleeve of Andrew's cloak and pointed to the tall bearded figure that towered over the students. "Hagrid." He said simply, "And old friend of my dad's." James seemed to be one of the few who was not alarmed by Hagrid's appearance, most such as Jeremey Andrew and Zach were yelling "Bloody hell! Is that guy human?"

James laughed as he lead the group over to where Hagrid stood, "Alright there Hagrid?" he asked.

The Half-Giant beamed at James and said "Alright Jamie, alright. How're the folks doing?" However, James was too busy furiously growing red to answer. Hagrid was one of the few people who insisted on calling James 'Jamie', the others being his brother, and his mum. For the most part, he really didn't mind that nickname, except for when it was being used in front of other people.

However, no one else seemed to have heard how Hagrid had addressed James, as there was no sound of snickering coming from any of the First Years standing behind him. "Alright," Hagrid continued, "We'll be going to Hogwarts in the boats. I reckon around four or five to a boat, so hop to it you lot!"

James immediately jumped into the first boat he saw, into which he was followed by Andrew Knight, Jeremey Hall, and Zach Tolentino, along with a boy that he did not recognize. "You got a name kid?" Jeremey asked as the boy clambered onto the boat.

The boy appeared shamefaced as he answered "Julio Wick. Stupid name I know, I sound like I'm from the bloody Caribbean!" The boy then launched into an explanation of how he had been born in England, and lived there his whole life, but his mother had decided to name him Julio because she had always wanted to move to Mexico someday.

Hagrid climbed into the lead boat, which was bigger than all the others but could still barely support his weight and pointed his flowery pink umbrella in the air and shouted "Forward!"

Most of the students looked down in confusion, expecting to see oars or paddles of some sort, but the boats began gliding across the smooth surface of the lake by their own power. "Magic." James explained simply to Julio who, despite his claims of being Pure-Blood, was flabbergasted.

"You'll be getting your first glimpse of Hogwarts in just a bit." Hagrid called out, and indeed just a few seconds later, the boats passed out from underneath the leafy canopy, and the wonder that is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry passed into view, causing all of the First Years to gasp.

James had heard about Hogwarts from his parents, seen pictures of the Castle that had been taken by his relatives, but nothing could have prepared him for the sight of the Castle itself. There was something about it, some quality that could not be captured in a picture, or explained in words. The Castle almost seemed a living and breathing entity all its own, that called to James, welcoming him…embracing him.

When finally James brought himself to tear his eyes away from the Castle and see how the other boys were reacting, he saw that he was not alone. Zach's eyes were wide and teary, as though he was just barely able to stop himself from crying. Andrew was staring at the Castle reverently, as though it was a Holy Shrine that he was being given the honor to see. Jeremey's eyes were darting back and forth like lightning, as though he was determined to drink in every last brick and crack in the school's walls before they entered it.

When James looked at the last boy though, Julio, he saw a different expression. It wasn't wonder, or joy, or shock…it was fear. The boy stared at the Castle as though he was going to face his doom there, and James wondered if the boy knew something that he did not. He wanted to ask they boy why he was so afraid, but he could not…would not…break the beautiful perfect silence as they glided across the crystal clear lake.

Once the students reached the Entrance Hall, all hell broke loose. Students who had been on separate boats during the lake-trip raced around to share their thoughts with one another, and the din of the crowd was louder than it had been on the train some hours ago. James, however, was joining right in. Talking to Jeremey and Andrew about what they'd thought about the whole thing.

"That was without a doubt the absolute _sickest_ thing that I've ever seen!" Jeremey exclaimed, "I mean, don't you think it was such a great view, eh?"

"First of all Jeremey, I know you're Canadian and all, but seriously, if you don't stop saying 'eh' all the time, I'm going to bloody kill you!" Andrew said, at which all three boys laughed before Andrew continued, "But I know what you mean. It's like…I feel like we're somewhere sacred, you know?"

James was unable to answer however, as at that moment a teacher entered the Entrance Hall and commanded the students to silence. Though it was very loud in the Hall she had no problem making herself heard, and something about the way she carried herself made all the students stop talking immediately.

She was rather young, and had long black hair that hung down past her shoulders, and James was certain that she had never seen this teacher before in his life. So she had definitely not taught his father then. That was a good thing, he didn't want to be taught by _all_ of his father's former instructors.

"My name," she began, in a voice that simultaneously radiated kindness and control, "is Professor Wilkins. Now in a moment, you will all follow me into the Great Hall, where you will be Sorted into your Houses. There are four Houses at Hogwarts, each named for one of our four founders. They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each of these Houses has had a long and noble history, and each one has been the home of countless great Witches and Wizards."

The students began to murmur and discuss the ever-prevalent subject of Houses again, but Professor Wilkins silenced them effortlessly as she continued speaking. There was something about her that made the students know not to trifle with her.

"During your time at Hogwarts, your House will be like your family. You will eat, sleep, and spend much of your free time with your Housemates. However, we encourage you to make friends outside of your House as well. For it is in our unity that we are strongest."

Nodding curtly as though confirming something that only she understood, she turned and said "If you will follow me, the Sorting can begin."

James followed along with the rest of the students as they filed into the Great Hall. The eyes of everyone seated at the four long tables filled with students, were fixated on the line of First Years. However, the First Years were looking everywhere but at their older classmates.

"Look at the ceiling!" one student exclaimed, causing all of the First Years to collectively gasp as one once again. Where there should have been a ceiling there was simply a star-filled sky, as the Great Hall was open to the heavens.

Then, the eyes of everyone in the Great Hall darted forwards, as Professor Wilkins placed a tattered old hat on a chair. _That must be the Sorting Hat!_ James realized, and so did not share the surprise of many other First Years when the hat's brim opened like a mouth and it began to sing:

_In times of old_

_when Knights were bold,_

_and Wizards lived among Muggles._

_They called upon great men to solve, for them all of their troubles._

_Great Gryffindor, the noble Lord._

_Homely Hufflepuff, who all adored._

_Royal Ravenclaw, from Kingdoms far._

_Sly Slytherin who slew Jamar._

_Together then, these Founders Four_

_set up this School, these very floors,_

_to instruct Witches and Wizards young_

_in whose tiny hands, the future hung._

_And though they sought to unite,_

_there's to this day, a lingering fight._

_Between the Houses, one and all,_

_for boundaries in-between won't fall._

_So while you're Sorted into Fourths,_

_remember now, for what it's worth._

_That while I Sort you in four parts,_

_we all still do share one heart!_

The Hall burst into applause as the Hat concluded its song, however it was noted that most of the First Years were too otherwise preoccupied to join in. James, for one, was beginning to feel nervous for the first time since he'd considered the Sorting. He had always been confident that he would be Sorted into Gryffindor, but now he was not so sure. What if he was Sorted somewhere else? Like Slytherin, god forbid he was Sorted into Slytherin!

"Aten, Nicholas" Professor Wilkins called out.

Poor Nick, who had been so nervous about his Sorting, so be the first person to go up and try on the hat. He had been petrified of what would happen if he was Sorted into Slytherin, but at the same time afraid of what his family would think if he wasn't.

"Ravenclaw!" yelled the Hat. And Nick, still looking rather pale, stepped down from the stool and walked over to join his new housemates, whether he was pleased or not, James could not tell.

"Bartlett, Leon" Professor Wilkins read. James had never gotten around to talking with Leon about Houses, and he wondered where the boy would end up. He didn't have to wait long though, the hat was very quick in deciding.

"Slytherin!" James gasped in shock, Leon had seemed so nice! How could he have ended up in Slytherin?

The next group of names faded into a blur as James began trembling again. If Leon had ended up in Slytherin, maybe he would too! Nicolette, the other girl who had ran inside with Leon, had just been made a Slytherin too!

"Hall, Jeremey" Professor Wilkins read out, and Jeremey ran eagerly up to the platform. If James remembered correctly, Jeremey had been the one kid who hadn't been too bothered about Houses. He had said something to the effect of 'where ever I go, I'll go, and that'll be my destiny.'

The hat took quite some time with Jeremey, as though chewing him around trying to determine exactly what flavor he was. Finally, the hat broke the tense silence and roared "Gryffindor!"

A few more students went while James wasn't paying attention, and then it was Christian's turn. The American who had gotten thrown out of Salem for some reason that James had forgotten to ask him about. The Hat took it's time on him before announcing "Hufflepuff!"

Then it was Andrew's turn, the hat hadn't been on his head for more than half a second before it shouted "Gryffindor!" Andrew, it seemed, had it all pretty planned out.

Another bunch of students were sorted before Erin Malloy was called up to try on the hat. The hat took maybe half a minute on her before announcing "Ravenclaw!" which clearly pleased Erin from the way that she skipped to the table.

Next was Jason, you could tell from his expression that he was arguing with the hat not to put him in Ravenclaw with his sister. However, in this case, it seemed that the hat would not be deterred as, much to Jason's dismay, it announced "Ravenclaw!"

This scared James, if the hat was unwilling to listen to Jason's pleas then would he be any more welcoming to James'? James was so nervous that he missed the next several students, including Paul O'Reilly from the train, who was Sorted into Ravenclaw.

"Potter, James" the sound of his name got through to James, despite his inner turmoil, and he gulped as he slowly made his way up to the platform. As the hat was placed on his head, James closed his eyes so that he wouldn't have to see the Great Hall disappear into the darkness of the inside of the hat.

_Yes, yes. A long time I've waited for this one._ Said an ancient voice that sounded as though it was coming from inside his head. _Just like your father, you're very difficult to place young Master Potter. Though, you don't have the Slytherin in you that I found in your father. Your mother had some Hufflepuff in her, but I can't seem to find that in you either. No…such a shame that it's always the same with you Potters…_

"GRYFFINDOR!" bellowed the hat, and James nearly toppled off his seat in relief. He was so excited that it was finally over, that he took the Sorting Hat and held it up in the air like a trophy before setting it back on the chair and running to the Gryffindor Table, who were howling with laughter at his stunt. Settling into a seat between Jeremey and Andrew, James heard Teddy yelling down the table "Way to go James!"

The rest of the Sorting was over before James had even realized it was continuing. Zach Tolentino joined them in Gryffindor, while Dwayne Powelly joined Christian at the Hufflepuff Table. Last to go, was Julio Wick, the scared boy who had been on the boat with them…he was Sorted into Slytherin.

Professor Wilkins took the stool and hat, and cleared them out of the Great Hall. Then, Professor McGonagall, the Headmistress of Hogwarts, addressed them all saying "Thank you for your patience during the Sorting Ceremony, now it is time for the Feast, dig in."

James gasped as the previously empty trays and dishes before him filled with more food than he had ever seen before in his life. James, who had never felt hungrier in his entire life, grabbed a little bit of everything for his plate, an action which was mirrored by Jeremey, who loaded up his plate with more food than James believed anyone so skinny could possibly eat.

The Feast was amazing, as the food served was the best that James had ever tasted, and there was more of it than any of them could possibly finish. When the Feast was over Professor McGonagall said some words about rules and classes, but James was so drowsy he didn't pick up more than a word or two. So he was relieved and grateful when the Gryffindor Prefects led them out of the Great Hall and, he assumed, towards Gryffindor Tower.

They followed a maze of corridors and staircases that seemed to be arranged completely at random in order to get to the Tower, and James was not alone in his grumblings that "I'm never gonna be able to remember this!"

Finally they came to a halt, in front of a Portrait of an enormously fat woman. "Password?" the Fat Lady asked, still sipping a goblet of wine.

The First Years looked at each other in confusion. Password? What password, no one had ever told them about any kind of password. "Erm, we haven't been…" a small girl bean, but she was shoved aside by one of the Prefects who said "I told you lot to wait! How'd you expect to get in?" Turning to the Fat Lady he said "Filibuster" and the Portrait promptly swung open to reveal the Gryffindor Common Room.

The Common Room was ornately decorated, and the walls contained intricate carvings that all seemed to lead back to the grand fireplace on the North side of the Tower. James and the other First Years were still soaking the place in when the Prefects finished their speech about rules and sent them off to their Dormitories.

James found the room marked "First Years" in the boy's Dorms and immediately collapsed on one of the Four-Poster Beds. Jeremey, Andrew, and Zach soon followed him. Their trunks and personal effects were already there waiting for them, but no one seemed to feel like unpacking. All four of them simply collapsed on the bed that was theirs and were asleep before a single trunk had been opened.


	10. Chapter 10: A Day in the Life

Chapter Ten: A Day in the Life

When the First Year Gryffindors woke up the morning after the Feast, the four boys began to realize that they could get on quite well with one another. Especially James and Jeremey, who were so similar that Andrew complained it was like having two James's, or two Jeremey's.

As it turned out, James was wrong when he said that he was never going to learn how to navigate the Castle, as the four managed to find their way down to the Great Hall the next morning in only half an hour. Admittedly, this was after getting lost and asking portraits for directions four times. Although they did learn a valuable lesson, in that not all of the portraits were friendly, as they were misdirected several times by some of the nastier ones.

However, by the end of their second week at Hogwarts, the boys were finding their way around the Castle very well. If only the same could be said for their finding their way around their class work, as all four boys were proving to be a menace to every classroom they entered.

It wasn't that the boys were bad at their classes, as a matter of fact James was top of the class in Transfiguration, and Jeremey was making Charms Class look easy, but more that they found goofing off more interesting than whatever it was that they were actually supposed to be doing.

Transfiguration, which had proven to be the only class that James could get through without wanting to jinx someone, was taught by a tall witch with flaming red hair by the name of Professor Decandio. And like her hair, her temper would instantly flare up at anyone who broke one of her many rules, and boy did she have a lot of them.

"How on earth does she expect us to get anything done when we're not allowed to speak." Andrew whispered, when Professor Decandio's back was turned. They had been instructed to transfigure the sticks of hay on their desk into needles, something that none of them were certain how to do.

But of course, they could not ask questions either, as that was forbidden as well. And so the First Years were left to sit there and try to work out what they were supposed to do in silent misery. True, she had given them instructions, but no one had quite understood her directions because she had spoken so fast that everyone was still writing down her first set of instructions when she had concluded with her speech.

No one had been able to have even the slightest success with this assignment, except for James, who had proven to be a natural at Transfiguration. "It's not that hard Andrew." James muttered, "You've just gotta…" but James immediately fell silent as Professor Decandio had turned back towards them, and was once again patrolling the rows between their desks.

By the end of the lesson, not even James had been able to make much of a difference to their hay, but James insisted that he had pricked his finger on the end of his. Although, as Zach pointed out, this could have just been because he was such a wimp, not because he had made the hay any sharper.

Andrew, on the other hand, favored Defense Against the Dark Arts, a class which was taught by the kindest teacher in all of Hogwarts, Professor Wilkins. The joke around the Castle was that if you didn't like Professor Wilkins, then a Dementor must have sucked out your soul long ago, because she was impossible not to like.

Even when you had absolutely no idea what you were doing, and constantly screwed up, Professor Wilkins was always very patient and kind with every student. Not even James had the nerve to dare goof off in her class, because no one wanted to do anything to upset a teacher that was so nice.

But aside from Professor Wilkins, Defense Against The Dark Arts also had one of the most interesting curriculums, as classes were taught practically at least once every week, and often even more than that.

Jeremey did exceptionally well at Charms, a class that was taught by the quirky and forgetful Professor Lund, who often changed the lesson midway through because she could no longer remember what it was she had originally been teaching them. Several times, students convinced Professor Lund that she had told them to leave class early.

Aside from Professor Lund's forgetfulness though, Charms was a class that was never boring. They had practical lessons even more often than Defense Against The Dark Arts, and though it wasn't what they were supposed to be learning, James had learned a very good way to start and put out fires from that class.

Potions was taught by the oldest teacher in the entire school, Professor Slughorn, who was also one of James' least favorite people in all of Hogwarts. The man was always spouting stories about James' parents and grandparents, and James found his self-praising almost unbearable. The fact that Professor Slughorn seemed to really like James made things even worse.

None of the boys were particularly good at Potions, and Jeremey seemed to find the class to be a complete and utter waste of time. Hardly a day went by it seemed without Jeremey making some kind of joke about how pointless Potions Class was. A sentiment that was shared to a lesser degree by Zach and Andrew.

Herbology was taught by Neville…that is Professor Longbottom, one of his father's old school friends. James always felt afraid to act out during Herbology, in fear that if his father found out he would berate James endlessly for giving his old school-friend trouble.

However James was dead awful at Herbology, a class that he viewed as pointless and dreadfully boring. What did he care about plants? Maybe they would have been a little more interesting if they were trying to kill him from time to time, but sadly First Years were generally not permitted to handle such dangerous plants.

History of Magic was by far the worst class in the entire school, and was taught by the one teacher who didn't care if you were listening to him or not: Professor Binns. Professor Binns was a teacher who, the story went, had been brutally stabbed to death by a student who had hated the man's boring lectures so much he could no longer stand it. Unfortunately, the man's actions had failed to stop the man's endless droning, and hundreds of years later he still taught the same subject in the same boring drawl.

Although, James remembered, his father had mentioned in a letter that he'd heard a far different explanation about Professor Binn's death, and that he should not believe everything that he heard. The one good thing about History of Magic was that Professor Binns wouldn't bother to stop them when they started murmuring to themselves about things completely unrelated to his subject.

Lastly was Astrology, which was held in the dead of night atop the Astronomy Tower by the tall and leering Professor Cooley. Professor Cooley was a rather queer fellow, who never went anywhere without his suit, no matter how hot out it got. Some students were under the belief that Professor Cooley wore the same suit every day and never changed or washed it, but James found that very hard to believe.

For the most part though, the classes were quite interesting, and James found that despite his best intentions to the contrary, he was actually learning things in just about all of his classes. When he pointed this out to Jeremey one day, the other boy had shrugged and said "Yea well, at least it's all useful stuff that you're learning. You have no idea the useless stuff that they try to teach kids at Muggle Schools. Jocelyn was showing me."

James found that rather hard to believe, until Jeremey showed him something called 'algebra' which was without a doubt the most pointless thing he'd ever seen in his entire life. "Why on earth do they bother to learn that junk?" James asked, dumbfounded.

"Search me." Jeremey said, "Muggles are weird."

Thankfully, First Years were not given all that much homework, and so James and his friends had plenty of free-time in which to pursue more important activities: such as laying around on the Grounds and doing…well, nothing. But that was what made those times special. It was the fact that they didn't have to do anything that made those moments the ones that James cherished.

On one of those days, they had been lying near the lake, and James had been sure that he had seen something creating splashes near the surface of the Great Lake.

"Hey guys." James said, sitting up to get a better look, "Do you guys see that?" Pointing towards the Lake he said "Look over there, there's something over there."

"I don't see it." Christian said, straining to see over Dwayne's big head, which was seated directly in front of him, obscuring his view of whatever it was that James was pointing at.

"It's right over there, what are you blind?" Jason said, pointing a good ten feet to the right of where James had been pointing, to which Nick and Paul nodded in assent.

"Nah, you're looking the wrong way you dolt." Erin said "It's over to the left." She corrected, pointing even further from where James had been saying in the first place.

Jeremey and Andrew both insisted that they couldn't see anything, and so the group decided to head down to the lake to see if there was anything to see from closer up. It was a rather big group to be storming across the grounds: James, Jeremey, Andrew, and Zach from Gryffindor, Nick, Jason, Paul, and Erin from Ravenclaw, and Christian, Dwayne, and Jocelyn from Hufflepuff. Absent only, was a Slytherin representative in their group, but that was because James and Zach were not as trustful of Leon as Jeremey and Andrew were.

As the group approached the shore of the Lake, they began spreading out along the shore, looking for any sign of what James had been pointing at. Unfortunately, by this time, the surface of the Lake was perfectly smooth and undisturbed.

"Isn't there supposed to be a Giant Squid in the Lake?" Jocelyn asked, nervously backing away from the water every few seconds. "Nah, that's just an old rumor!" Nick said coolly.

Sadly, they were unable to find anything by the end of the afternoon and were forced to conclude that there had been nothing there.


	11. Chapter 11: Initiation

Chapter Eleven: Initiation

It wasn't until mid October that Teddy finally came to talk to James about what they had discussed at the World Cup. By this time, James had all but given up on him and Teddy sharing more than a few passing words in the Common Room each morning, and was convinced that Teddy had been lying to him just to get his hopes up.

However, on this mid-October day, Teddy finally came to speak to James; just not quite in the way that James had imagined this conversation going when it finally happened.

"Hey James," Teddy had said, "You remember when I asked you if you wanted to join our group right?" James had nodded, dumbfounded before Teddy had continued "Great, well meet me in the Common Room tonight at midnight. And, bring those kids you hang around with…Jerome and Andy."

James hadn't had even the slightest idea as to why Teddy had wanted to speak to the three of them at midnight, but if it was going to get him into Teddy's 'gang' of pranksters than he would do it without a second thought.

Jeremey had not taken much persuasion to come along, as he was always eager to do anything exciting and adventurous. Andrew on the other hand, had taken some persuading.

"What on earth does he want to see us at that ungodly hour for James?" Andrew had asked, clearly skeptical of Teddy's motives, which James found appalling. Teddy would never do anything to try and hurt him, or get him in trouble.

"It's probably just tradition or something." James said dismissively, waving Andrew's complaints aside without much thought. "Hey by the way, you can come too Zach." James said, as their fourth dorm-mate entered the Dormitory.

"Come where?" Zach asked, looking at James as though he had just sprouted a second head. Admittedly, he had just walked into the middle of their conversation, and couldn't be expected to know what they were talking about.

So James explained to Zach (as he had just explained to Andrew and Jeremey) how Teddy, who was practically James' brother, had told them to meet him in the Common Room at midnight in order to join his band of pranksters.

Unlike Jeremey and Andrew, Zach did not show the slightest of interests in the whole thing. "Nah, I'm good." He said to the general shock of everyone in the room. "To be honest the whole thing sounds like a bloody cult or something." To which the other three simply stared at him for a moment, before shaking their heads in disappointment.

"Your choice Zach." Jeremey said from where he lay on his bed, facing upwards at the ceiling of the Dormitory like it was the most fascinating thing he had ever seen. "But you're missing out."

Zach merely shrugged and didn't say very much for the rest of the time that they discussed the meeting. He didn't try to talk them out of it, but nor did he attempt to get involved in any way. Even when Andrew tried to get him to explain what he had meant, the other boy just lay there in silence, leafing through the pages of his book.

In the end, more because he wanted to avoid looking like a square than anything else, Zach agreed to go along with James and Jeremey, at which point Zach spoke for the first time since he'd fallen silent nearly an hour before. "Great, I'll have the Dorm all to myself starting tomorrow." A comment which, for the life of them, none of the other boys could understand the meaning of.

Finally, the time came for the trio to meet Teddy in the Common Room and find out whether this whole thing had been worth all the attention that they had lavished over it. James, of course, was of the opinion that something insanely wicked was going to happen that night, but Andrew was starting to think that they may have gotten overly excited by something that probably wasn't all that important.

When they entered the Common Room, expecting to see Teddy waiting for them, the boys were surprised to see that the Common Room was entirely deserted. "You're sure he said midnight James?" Jeremey asked.

"Oh no, silly me, he actually said 7:30. Of course I'm sure!" James shot back, had Teddy abandoned him again? Was this whole thing just another cruel joke to get James' hopes up and then dash them once again?

"So, you actually showed?" the voice came echoing from behind them, causing all three young boys to jump in surprise. As the three spun around, only James began to feel any sense of relief. The other two boys, who had never met Teddy before, were both still fumbling for their wands.

"Shit! I always forget which pocket it's in!" Andrew muttered before finally drawing his wand out of his back pocket. Jeremey, on the other hand, was forced to give up a moment later saying "Dammit, I left my wand on the dresser again!"

Jeremey had become a menace amongst teachers for always forgetting to bring his wand to class. Some people, James and Andrew included, were starting to think that Jeremey was doing it on purpose so that he could leave class for a few minutes to go and get it. But, apparently, he really was just that clueless.

"Relax guys." James said, "This is Teddy, and I doubt that you could have jinxed him if you tried Andrew."

Reluctantly, Andrew lowered his wand, whereas Jeremey stood there sheepishly for a moment before muttering "It's not my fault I keep forgetting it." He then proceeded to kick the ground in frustration as though to add emphasis the point.

"Great, well then if you little kids are done shitting yourselves, we can get on to business shall we." A second student said, as he stepped out of the shadows that Teddy had just emerged from. James was pretty sure it was Jay, whom he had met on the train, but he wasn't sure.

Jeremey and Andrew both flinched in the face of Teddy's tall and muscular friend, who looked as though he probably ate First Years like them for breakfast. However, both boys managed to compose themselves well enough, and Andrew shot back at Jay "Yea, cause you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?"

Not the best of comeback lines, but considering the circumstances, James was impressed that Andrew had been able to speak. Apparently, so was Teddy, who said "This one shows some promise in a few years."

Shaking his head, Teddy continued "Well, before you guys can become true Gryffindors, you have to go through you initiation ritual. And next year, when Jay and I aren't around anymore, you guys will have to help initiate all of the new First Years."

James had not been expecting any kind of initiation, but he reluctantly nodded. Hopefully, with some luck, it wouldn't be anything particularly difficult or challenging…or dangerous. Unfortunately, as he would soon find out, luck was not on their side that night.

"Last week, Filtch confiscated some items of a rather…sensitive nature, from me." Teddy began, speaking as though he was well accustomed to doling out such tasks. "So your charge is to break into his office and steal them back. Do this, and you'll be full Gryffindors."

At this, one of the many older students gathered around the Common Room stepped forward and said "Look Teddy, I know this is tradition and all, but I really can't let you do this. I'm a Prefect you know."

There was a general hissing and shouts of "Snake!" and "Traitor!" from around the room as the boy spoke up. Teddy, on the other hand shook his head saying "You're kidding me right Nick? I never thought I'd live to see the day where Nicholas Hayden was a teacher's pet!"

Nicholas turned red at this point, before saying "I'm just trying to do my job Teddy." But already he was far less sure of himself than he had already been when he had first interrupted.

"Well then go up and go to sleep." Teddy said flippantly, "You can't stop what you didn't see happen!" he pointed out, sounding obscenely confident in himself.

For a moment, Nicholas just stood there, as though grappling with a moral dilemma that he could not solve. Finally, he sighed and trudged up the stairs to the Boy's Dormitories, clearly feeling defeated and dejected.

"Great." Teddy said, "Well now that we've gotten that over with, you lot should get to it. You've only got a couple of hours before Filtch stops patrolling the corridors."

The boys had been silently making their way towards Filtch's Office for nearly twenty minutes before Andrew finally spoke. "He was right you know…Zach when he told us that his whole thing was a bad idea."

The other two looked at him as though he had said something horribly offensive, the torchlight flickering on their features as they walked. "What are you talking about Andrew?" Jeremey asked. "You always have to go through your initiation before you get accepted into any kind of group. That's just how it works."

James was of similar mind, but he didn't say so, he just nodded and continued walking. The corridors, familiar enough by day, were an immensely confusing labyrinth of tunnels and false doors at night. And the fact that they had to be as quiet as possible was not helping matters at all.

It was only after they had been wandering the corridors for some time that James remembered the Map, the Marauder's Map! How on earth had he not thought of it for so long? It would have made finding his way around the Castle so much easier during the first few weeks, not to mention making this 'initiation' a thousand times easier.

Thankfully, the pockets of James' robes were full of useless junk that he had forgotten to remove from them, and amongst them was the scrap of parchment that was the Marauder's Map. "Guys, come over here!" James said, pulling the other two underneath a flickering torch so that they could read the map better.

"Erm James, is now _really_ the time to be doing your Transfiguration Homework?" Jeremey asked when he saw the blank sheets of Parchment. "Yea, what's up James?" Andrew asked.

Flashing a grin at the two as he drew his wand, James said "I'll show you what's up, watch! _I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good!_" flourishing his wand down at the Map as he said the last words.

Jeremey and Andrew's looks of confusion immediately morphed into shock and awe as the Map began to blossom on the parchment. "Holy Hippogriff!" Jeremey exclaimed, "What in Merlin's name is that?"

Grinning proudly James said "This is the Marauder's Map. My grandfather made it! I nicked it from my dad right before I left for Hogwarts! It shows the entire Castle, all the passageways, and where everyone in it is…look!" he said, pointing at the trio of dots that were basically the only ones not in one of the Four House Dormitories. They were labeled _J. Potter, J. Hall, _and _A. Knight_.

"Dear god, that's us!" Andrew exclaimed, walking in a small circle around the other two and watching awestruck as the dot mimicked his actions. Jeremey seemed to be in a similar state of shock, scanning the map and muttering "How is something like this even _possible_?"

Laughing at the other two's astonishment, James said "Well, if you two are done drooling over this thing, I suggest that we use it to get to Filtch's Office before anyone catches us.

With the Marauder's Map guiding their way, it only took the boys a matter of minutes to reach Filtch's Office which, to their immense surprise, they found unlocked. The room was small dark and crooked, just like the man who lived there. The whole place smelled of cats, and there was a small leak coming in from one of the pipes on the ceiling.

"I suppose he reckons no one would be mad enough to want to break in here." Andrew said, to which the other two nodded, and resumed looking for whatever of Teddy's was in there. It didn't take very long to find it.

"Here it is!" James said, immediately recognizing the small polished box as Teddy's. Though he burned to know what was inside it, he knew that the box was enchanted not to open for anyone but Teddy.

Handing the box to Andrew, he said "Let's get out of here before we're found! I've got a funny feeling that this has all been too easy!"

The other two nodded, eager to be gone as well, and the three darted from the dreary and depressing Office without a backwards glance. There could be no question of them remaining in that horrible place for any longer than they absolutely had to.

Despite Jeremey's insistences that they were home free, they quickly found that it was not going to be that simple. No sooner had they rounded the corner from Filtch's Office than they heard the ancient caretaker screeching from behind them "STUDENTS OUT OF BED! STUDENTS IN MY OFFICE!"

James immediately slammed his palm into his face and said "We forgot to close the door behind us!" The other two paled, realizing that every teacher in the School was going to be looking for them within minutes. "Run!" Jeremey exclaimed, and the three turned and sprinted towards Gryffindor Tower.

Fortunately, they did not get lost on the way back to the Tower, and they made it to the Common Room a few minutes later, panting and out of breath, but otherwise very proud of their adventure.

"Hey Teddy." James gasped as they collapsed onto the couch in the center of the Common Room, James sitting, Andrew lying down, and Jeremey leaning against the top from behind. "We found your stuff."


	12. Chapter 12: Tryouts and Sellouts

Chapter Twelve: Tryouts and Sellouts

The story of the adventure that James and his friends had gone on the night before had circulated around Gryffindor Tower by the next morning, and James and the others spent the next several weeks getting claps on the back from some of their older House Mates on their success in eluding Filtch on their first night out.

If Zach had been surprised to see that the other three boys hadn't been caught, he didn't show it. However, he could not resist one little 'I told you so' which he was sure to make the moment that the others returned that night. "It was a whole big setup wasn't it?" Zach asked them. They didn't answer, they didn't need to.

Some weeks later, by which time the hubbub surrounding their escapade had begun to die down, there was a flier posted in the Gryffindor Common Room announcing that Quidditch Tryouts would be held the upcoming Friday. James had not taken more than a fleeting, regretful glance of the flier, but Jeremey had been staring at it nonstop for the last hour, as though if he looked at it for long enough he'd have a better chance of making the team.

"Are you gonna tryout?" he finally asked, out of the blue, as he finally dragged his gaze away from the flier. James thought about it, he could not deny that it hadn't captured his imagination at least once or twice. Making the team in his First Year, just like his father had done, and leading Gryffindor to victory! It was a thought that had dominated his mind for some time, but at the same time he was uncertain.

"I don't know." He said finally. "I don't really have a broom, and I don't think First Years have much of a chance at making the team anyway." It pained him to say it, but he knew that his age was going to be a factor in the decision of who made the team and who didn't.

"I've been thinking about it myself." Andrew said, entering the Common Room through the Portrait Hole. "I mean, Teddy Jay, Alex, Brittney and Lena are all returning from last year, and they've pretty much got their spots locked up. But that leaves two spots totally up for grabs!"

In the end, the three boys had decided that they were going to make an attempt of it, even though the odds were highly stacked against them. Jeremey, at least, had a bit of an edge over James and Andrew. His cousin, who had been a great Quidditch Player in the American League, had recently been forced to give the game up after a bad bludger injury, and so he had given Jeremey his Nimbus 3,000!

James and Andrew had both gaped at Jeremey when he told them that he was in possession of such a great broom, but Jeremey had jokingly shrugged and said "I'd rather have a Firebolt, but you know. Beggars can't be choosers."

James and Andrew were going to tryout on old school brooms in the hopes that, if they made the team, their parents would be amendable to getting them better ones. James, however, was not very confident on this score. He knew that his mother would never let him get a broom in his First Year. It would be 'too big a distraction from his studies'.

But still, the three boys were rather optimistic about their chances of making the team, although their spirits were dampened somewhat when Zach got a bad dose of some kind of poison in Potions Class, and wound up in the Hospital Wing the day before tryouts. Try as they might, they had been unable to convince the kind but overly-protective Nurse, Madam Palumbo, to let Zach out a day early.

Jeremey had offered to skip the Tryouts if Zach couldn't go, but Zach insisted that they go ahead without him. Though they could all hear the suppressed bitterness in his voice. "There's always next year buddy." Andrew had said as they left the Hospital Wing, leaving Zach alone.

There were more people than James had expected to see at the Tryouts for the Gryffindor Team. In addition to the holdovers from last year's team: Teddy Lupin, Lena Roberts, Jay Carpenter, Alex Dellapina, and Brittney Rothman there were a large number of new players trying out for those two open slots. And Teddy had made it very clear that they were competing for those two spots. "The job of everyone behind me is safe and locked up!" Teddy had announced, "I've seen them play long enough to know how good they are. You guys are competing for two slots on this team, and that's all. We need a Chaser and a Seeker, and that's it! So any Beaters and Keepers here can clear out now."

There had been some mixed grumblings, and some players had left, but most simply stayed, resolving to tryout for a different position than they had intended. There were a lot of students, from all different ages too. There was Mitchel Gate, a tall light-skinned 4th Year with long black dreadlocks. There was Nicholas Hayden, the tanned 6th Year Prefect from the Common Room, and the ultra-competitive Kenneth Skyland, who was also in his 4th Year. Also trying out was Chelsea Gordon, a 4th Year girl who looked more like a Cheerleader than a Quidditch Player, and of course James, Jeremey, and Andrew the lone First Year tryouts.

Almost immediately, James tried to sort out who he was going to have to go up against. Jeremey, Kenneth, and Chelsea were going for the Seeker Spot, which meant James was going to have to beat out Mitchel, Nicholas, and Andrew if he wanted to make the team's remaining Chaser slot.

He was silently relieved that he was not going to have to go up against Kenneth, who was most certainly the best athlete, and fiercest competitor out there. Though he didn't say so to his friend, he had no doubt that Kenneth had the Seeker position locked up as surely as the carry-overs whose spots Teddy had guaranteed before Tryouts.

Mitchel was definitely his biggest threat in the competition. He was strong, big, and could probably hurl the Quaffle a lot better than James could, as well as out-muscle other players in a way that James could not hope to match. If he was going to have a chance, he was going to have to prove that his small, agile approach would be more effective than Mitchel's run-and-gun approach.

Teddy split the applicants into two teams and had then run a scrimmage so that he could watch everyone in a game setting. James tried to make himself look impressive. Pushing the beaten up broom from the 1400s as fast as it would go, throwing himself into stunts and moves that he would ordinarily never dare to do. He came very close to falling several times, but he was able to keep his grip on the broom.

After some time of this, Teddy sent all the older players off the Pitch so that he could focus on the newcomers. He also booted Nicholas and Chelsea, telling them that they just didn't have the style that the team was looking for.

The final test was to be a shootout against Teddy, who was filling in as Keeper temporarily. They would each get 5 shots, and James had no doubt that whichever of them scored on more of them would be given the Chaser spot.

James and Mitchel both scored twice on their first four shots, and Teddy made a ridiculous save on a bullet from James that would have given him a third. So when Mitchel missed his fifth shot, and Andrew scored only one time, James had a wide open chance to score on his fifth shot and, in his mind, bag the Chaser spot.

Holding the Quaffle loosely in his hand, James stared Teddy down, knowing that he was going to have to earn this one. Egging whatever speed he could from the battered broomstick, he sped towards the hoops and hurled the Quaffle for the far left Hoop…

Everything seemed to pause, the Quaffle was too fast, Teddy too slow…he was going to score. No doubt about it, there it was, the third goal, and it was all in the bag!

Except he was wrong, it wasn't in the bag, as he had underestimated Teddy's quickness. With a speed that he could never have foreseen, Teddy swept down and kicked the Quaffle away.

"I've seen all I need to see, you can all go inside, I'll post the results tomorrow." Teddy said, looking at James in disappointment, James knew that Teddy had expected better of him. That he was going to have to give the spot to Mitchel because of his age.

Jeremey's tryout had gone the same as James', about as well as could be expected, but would it have been good enough to secure a spot? They would find out the next day, but in the meantime all three boys were quietly discussing their chances. After his nervous performance in the shootout, Andrew had written himself off, and was jumping on James' bandwagon.

"You totally out-flew him James; you've got that spot in the bag!" Andrew said eagerly, but James was not so sure about his chances of making the team. He had known that he needed to be absolutely perfect in order to have even the slightest chance of making the team, and he hadn't been. And he could tell from the look that Teddy had given him that his effort hadn't been good enough.

James was, however, rather confident in Jeremey's chances. "Teddy was watching you the whole time Jer, you're a shoo-in! You caught the Snitch twice as many times as Ken, and if we're being honest here, he doesn't have your flair. Plus, he's a prick!"

But like James, Jeremey was not taking any compliments. "He's bigger than me though, tougher. I think Teddy reckons he'll hold up to Bludgers better than me, and I can't blame him. Besides, he's such a competitor, and you know that Teddy'll love that. He doesn't care if you're the biggest jerk on the planet so long as you can win!"

James disagreed with Jeremey's assessment of Teddy, but Jeremey was just as adamant as he had been, and so all three boys went to sleep thinking that everyone had done well but him.

When morning came, no one wanted to be the first one to look at the results sheet, so all three boys dressed very slowly. As it happened though, they still arrived in the Common Room just moments after Teddy had posted the sheet. Refusing to meet their eyes, Teddy walked straight past them and out of Gryffindor Common Room towards the Great Hall.

Though there was probably nothing so sinister behind it, the boys immediately took it as a bad sign. "He's sorry he couldn't put us on the team, that's why he won't look at us!" James said immediately, looking away from the roster sheet as though he couldn't bear to see the words that were printed upon it.

In the end, it was Jeremey who finally brought himself to look at the board first. "I'll do it then if you two are so afraid." He'd said as he strode up to the Bulletin Board to find out what had happened.

Jeremey stood there for a second, not speaking as he scanned the sheet. "No!" he exclaimed a few moments later, and looked away from the board immediately, covering his eyes as though he'd been blinded.

Trying to be sympathetic James patted Jeremey on the back and said "Relax Jer, there's always next year right?" But Jeremey refused to answer him, or even look at him.

"James!" came Andrew's voice from behind him. "I think you should see this." Andrew said, staring at the board in shock.

James halfheartedly walked over to the board muttering "Why, so I can see that I didn't make…" but the words died in his throat as he read the notice.

_2016-2017 Gryffindor Quidditch Team:_

_Returning: T. Lupin/ L. Roberts (C), J. Carpenter/A. Dellapina (B), B. Rothman (K)_

_New Tryouts: J. Potter (C), J. Hall (Seeker)_

"No way!" James murmured as he stared at the notice, and then back to Jeremey who finally lowered his hands from his face long enough to say "We made the team…" his voice a hushed tone of shock.

"Hey congratulations guys!" Andrew said, high-fiving both boys, and reminding James that Andrew must be feeling absolutely terrible right now. After all, of the three of them, only Andrew had been left off the team. "Andrew I'm sorry man…" James began, but Andrew cut him off.

"Save it James. I can try again next year! Besides, so long as you guys win that House Cup this year, I'd say that I can deal with the shame of not making it!" he said with a grin. And finally, it all began to sink in for James.

"Oh my god! I made the team!" he shouted, at which both Andrew and Jeremey laughed, "I told you from the start didn't I?" Jeremey asked, "I told you that you were a shoo-in to make the team!"

"Yea well, I said the same about you, so I guess that makes both of us Seers of something." James said, punching Jeremey on the shoulder as the three headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast where they would spend the rest of the morning discussing the chances of the new Gryffindor Team to win the Quidditch Cup that year.

Later that day, James went to the Owlry to write a letter to his parents telling them that he had made the Quidditch Team. At first, he had been hesitant to tell them, for fear of how his mother would react to hearing that he had disobeyed her orders, but in the end he decided that he would be better off getting the unpleasantness over with in a hurry. Besides, he was too proud of his achievement not to share it with his family.

Dear Mom and Dad,

I know that I just wrote to you guys the other day, but I had to tell you guys something. Mom, please try not to get mad, but I tried out for the Quidditch Team yesterday. I know that you told me not to, but I couldn't stop myself. I just had to give it a try, I'm sorry.

That's actually why I'm writing, I MADE THE TEAM! Can you believe it? Now I'll be on the House Team in my First Year, just like you dad! My friend Jeremey, remember I told you about him in my last letter? The Canadian kid who's standing on the far left in the picture I sent you guys. Yea, he made the team too!

The other reason I'm writing is…well, I know that you said I couldn't have a broom my First Year, but I'm trying really hard in class…and I think that this is a special circumstance isn't it?

Victoire turned 17 the other day, you guys probably already knew that seeing as you sent her that present. I tried to think of something nice to give her but I couldn't come up with anything. Not that it would have mattered anyway, she spent the whole day off somewhere with Teddy. What do you reckon they get up to together?

Halloween was a lot of fun. We had a big Feast, but other than that nothing much happened. I was kinda expecting more in a way.

I hope that you guys are alright, and that Albus and Lily haven't driven you guys crazy yet.

I know I already said this, but please don't tell Al that I write you guys so often. He'd take it the wrong way, you know.

Write back soon, I love you guys!

Sorry again mom,

James

Calling his Eagle Owl, who he had finally decided to name Stella, down from the rafters of the Owlry, he tied the letter around her foot and said "I just hope that when you come back you're carrying something a lot bigger than just a letter."

Stella looked at him curiously, and nipped at his shoulder before soaring out the window of the Owlry and vanished over the horizon of the Forbidden Forest.


	13. Chapter 13:Taking to the Pitch

Chapter Thirteen: Taking to the Pitch

The Gryffindor Quidditch Team did not have long to prepare before their first game of the season, which would be against their archrivals: Slytherin! Like Gryffindor, the Slytherin Team was comprised mainly of holdovers from the previous year, but the difference was that while Gryffindor had put its fate in the hands of two youngsters, Slytherin had filled the holes in its roster with a pair of 4th Years.

If the Gryffindor Team lost this game, it would be a severe blow to Teddy's Captaincy, and would prove right those who had said that it was a mistake to bring aboard two First Years. Even having a single First Year on your team was considered an anomaly. However, this year, there had been a total of 4 First Year students on their House Teams. Jeremey and James in Gryffindor, Christian Kennedy in Hufflepuff, and Paul O'Reilly in Ravenclaw. However, the really amazing thing was that Ravenclaw Captain Marcus Bridge was considering booting Keith Biessener, a 7th Year, in favor of Jason Malloy, another First Year!

On the morning of the game, James and Jeremey had woken earlier than anyone else in Gryffindor House, and gone down to Gryffindor Common Room to figure out what James was going to do about a broomstick. The day before, James had gotten the response from his parents, and the letter was not encouraging.

Dear James,

I am very disappointed that you disobeyed me in such a manner! I was very clear that you were not to be distracted by such things as Quidditch in your First Year at Hogwarts. While I am not going to forbid you from playing now that you've made the House Team, I am not going to reward your disobedience by sending you a broomstick, no matter what your father thinks.

I wish you the best of luck in your game, but hope that you learn to listen to me from now on!

Love,

Mommy

James had been disappointed, but not surprised, by his mother's answer, and how he and Jeremey needed to come up with a plan…and quickly. They were running out of time, and there was no way that James could play on that dinosaur of a broom that he had been flying in tryouts. Teddy had even told him that he wouldn't be able to keep James on the team unless he got himself a respectable broom.

"We could always nick a broom from someone else. Or maybe ask one of the Hufflepuffs to lend you theirs." Jeremey was suggesting when they were interrupted by an urgent pattering at the window. "What was that?" James asked, getting up and running over to the window.

Outside he saw an owl carrying a long package and bearing a note. Opening the window, the bird flew inside and immediately landed on Jeremey's head and began pecking at his forehead.

"Ow! James get this idiotic bird off me!" Jeremey said, as he flailed at the bird on his head, struggling to get it off of him.

"He's not mine." James said, ripping the card from the owl's beak. "It just says 'Gryffindor's newest Chaser.'" Jeremey finally managed to get the owl to leave him alone and snapped "Well that's you isn't it? I'm not a Chaser, eh!"

"Well, you are the only one wearing your uniform." James pointed out. For some reason, Jeremey had insisted on wearing his uniform from the moment that he got up that morning. He supposed that Jeremey liked the 'jock Quidditch player' look.

"Whatever, just open it alright!" Jeremey said, "Before this owl starts at me again!"

James, not in the mood to argue, opened the letter which read simply:

James,

Your parents' decision not to give you a broomstick appalls me! I find it simply unacceptable that you play without a proper broom! A bunch of us chipped in to get this for you, but we'll keep our names to ourselves for now so that your mum doesn't roast us alive.

Sincerely,

Your overly-large family

Immediately after, his gaze fell on the long thin package that the owl had carried in. "Hey Jeremey," James began "The Hufflepuffs can keep their brooms. I've got a feeling that our problems have just been solved!" Ripping aside the packaging, his suspicions were proven to be correct. Lying there on the floor of the Gryffindor Common Room was a Nimbus 3,000!

"Students of Hogwarts, please help me welcome the Slytherin Team: Pierce, Gomez, Carrington, Ritt, Keller, Breedlove, and PARKER!" The Slytherin Team flew onto the field as one, a solid glob of Green and Silver, appearing to be not seven individuals, but a single entity. The Slytherin section of the stands roared their approval, while the Gryffindor's booed relentlessly. In between the two, the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaw seemed indecisive for the most part.

"And now!" roared the magically amplified voice of Teddy's friend Andy, "Please welcome the Gryffindor Team: wearing the Number 7 of his father JAMES POTTER! Number 13, and the Gryffindor Captain: TEDDY LUPIN! Number 30, LENA ROBERTS! Number 9, JAY CARPENTER! Number 20, ALEXANDER DELLAPINA! Number 26, BRITTNEY ROTHMAN! AND NUMBER 71, JEREMEY HALL!"

Unlike the Slytherin Team, the Gryffindors entered one at a time, and chose to have their full names and jersey numbers called out, to emphasize that the Gryffindor Team was a cohesive unit of very individual players. James was sporting the Number 7 that his father had worn, a number that no one else was permitted to wear in honor of what his father had done for the School. However, Harry Potter had written a letter to the School insisting that his son be made to wear his number, even if they had to shove it over his protesting head.

With the exception of the Slytherins, everyone present had given James a healthy round of applause. And very few could contain their cheers and laughter when Jeremey entered the Pitch standing upright on his broom, flexing his non-extant muscles for the world to see.

Once the ceremonies that preceded the game were over with, the players began to settle into their chosen starting points on the Pitch. James was near the centre, and very low to the ground, while Jeremey was far off to the left, and high in the air. The better to get a glimpse of the Snitch before it vanished from sight. Jeremey was more determined than anyone to do his part flawlessly, as he had told James before the game, because he would do whatever it took to ensure that Remy Parker did not catch the Snitch.

Coach Dunn, the referee, released the Snitch, and James managed to follow it for all of two seconds before it vanished from his view. Next out were the Bludgers, one of which rocketed past James before he'd even had time to realize they'd been let out. Finally, the Quaffle was tossed into the air, and the game was on!

"This game will be a clash of two radically different philosophies." Andy commentated, "A the smooth machine-like Slytherins take on the highly individualist Gryffindor Team, which focused more on individual creativity."

James was amazed at how well his Nimbus 3,000 handled. After flying that ancient monstrosity during tryouts, it was such a wondrous experience to be able to fly a broom that didn't feel like it was going to fall apart after every burst of acceleration.

James was flying like he'd never flown before. The broom seemed to react to his thoughts rather than his movements. It felt like an extension of his body, rather than an inanimate object. It was the most freeing and incredible experience in the entire world.

The Gryffindor Team's unique and creative style, at first, was proving too much for the Slytherins who were too locked in their 'systems' to adapt. The Gryffindor Team jumped ahead 80-10, and it seemed that the game was going to be a blowout. However, the Slytherins were slowly but surely able to climb back into the game by taking advantages of the mistakes that the Gryffindors made, and before long the score was 100-110 in Slytherin's favor!

Spurned on by a refusal to accept defeat, James scored three straight to put Gryffindor ahead 130-110, but it was still not enough, the Slytherin Beaters were slowly beating the Gryffindors into submission.

"OH! Potter takes a Budger to the chest! I cannot believe that he's still flying after that!"

The Gryffindor Team was on the verge of collapse when, suddenly, there it was…a streak of gold. And two larger blurs of Scarlett and Emerald not too far behind…

"Hall and Parker are in a desperate race for the Snitch! This is going to be a close one folks, hang on to your seats!"

James stopped what he was doing, turned around just in time to see Jeremey expertly duck beneath a Bludger and spin out with the Snitch clutched in his fingertips!

"Jeremey Hall has caught the Snitch, GRYFFINDOR WINS!" Andy shouted, as three-quarters of the Pitch burst into cheers and applause. "VICTORY PARTY in the Common Room!" Teddy yelled, thumping James on the back as they descended to the locker rooms. In the corner of his eye, James could just make out Jeremey waving the Snitch in the air above his head, before bringing it down and kissing it like a trophy.

"Star of the game man, star of the game!" James was saying to Jeremey, who had just finished chugging a bottle of Butterbeer in the Gryffindor Common Room. "Not a chance James!" Jeremey said, shaking his head as he held the empty bottle up in the air to the general applause of everyone in the Common Room. "I played well for 17 seconds; you played well the whole game!"

_There were many things you could say about Jeremey Hall, but one thing you could not say about him was that being around him was ever boring._ James thought to himself, as Jeremey chucked the empty bottle of Butterbeer across the room and into the rubbish-bin, before raising his arms as though he'd just accomplished some grand feat.

"Where the hell do you come up with all this stuff?" James asked him, shaking his head in disbelief at his friend's antics.

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about James." Jeremey replied, though from the glint in his eyes, James could tell that Jeremey knew exactly what he was talking about. "I dunno." Jeremey conceded, "But I learned a long time ago that people love a guy who isn't afraid to put himself out there and do crazy stuff like that."

By the time that the Party had ended the Common Room was an absolute wreck, and at least half of the Gryffindors had collapsed in their beds of exhaustion. However, in the First Year Boys Dormitory, all four boys were wide awake, discussing the game in greater detail.

"James that was without a doubt the sickest goal I've ever seen!" Zach declared, "I mean you totally flew by everyone of the other team! It was just like, whoops goodbye, no thank you, oops I'm going around you too…and then BAM!"

The conversation went on in such a manner for the rest of the night, both James and Jeremey finding it increasingly more difficult to be modest, until eventually they were boasting about themselves along with Zach and Andrew.

"Yea, do you remember that Bludger I dodged early on?" James asked, "Totally clutch! Didn't even come close to me!" Jeremey interrupted him though, saying "Yea, not as sick as the one I dodged _while catching the Snitch!_ I swear, you should have seen the look on that buffoon's face when I snatched the thing from right under his nose he was like…" James paused, and when he resumed talking it was in an attempt at an idiot's voice, "Where da Snitch go?"

They all had a laugh over that one, but James took the cake with the story of how he had caused two Slytherin players to collide with each other while they were chasing after him late in the game. Jeremey had missed it, but both Zach and Andrew could recall it perfectly.

"Alright, you win this round James." Jeremey joked, "But next time the crown will be mine!" he said, laughing evilly as he 'planned' how he was going to beat out James for the craziest stunt in the next game.

"Not on your life Jer!" James shot back, trying to restrain himself from laughing. "Because I'm going to blind the opposing Keeper by showing him a picture of you!" All four boys cracked up at this, and the two continued exchanging jokes until they finally no longer had the energy to keep their eyelids open.

At that point, they finally gave up and went to sleep, their dreams filled with scenes from the game that they had just played…and visions of things that could happen in games to come.


	14. Chapter 14: The Shadow Lengthens

Chapter Fourteen: The Shadow Lengthens

In the aftermath of Gryffindor's dramatic victory over Slytherin House in the first game of the season, everyone was eagerly analyzing Gryffindor's chances to win the House Cup that year. After all, this was very similar to the Slytherin Team that had gone all the way the year before. If Gryffindor could beat them, then who could stand in their way?

James and Jeremey were eagerly discussing this topic over breakfast in the Great Hall when Andrew stumbled upon something in the Dailey Prophet. Something that, unlike most of the news in there, was actually of genuine interest and importance.

"Ravenclaw is falling apart! They just replaced Keith with Jason! And I know Jason's our friend and all that, but he's no Keith! I have no idea why they got rid of him" Jeremey was saying, arguing against James' point that Ravenclaw's roster could very well defeat their own. Apart from Slytherin, Jeremey was most concerned with Huflepuff, whose Seeker Billy Hewitt was supposedly one of the best around.

"The guy does nothing but practice _all the time_ and have you seen him James? Cause he's good! He's really good! Plus Hufflepuff's got The Nash Brothers, and those two are unstoppable!" The two Hufflepuff Beaters were a pair of brothers named Scott and Calvin Nash. The two were amongst the biggest and toughest kids at Hogwarts, and that only made them even more lethal on the Quidditch Pitch. Players had been known to drop the Quaffle on purpose, rather than take a Bludger from one of them!

The two were interrupted in their arguing by Andrew, who could no longer restrain himself from sharing the article that he had found. "Guys I think you should see this. Especially you James, it's about your father…sorta."

The two immediately stopped talking and crowded around Andrew to read the Prophet article over his shoulder.

_Voldemort Revisionist Movement at it again!_

_The infamous Voldemort Revisionist Movement, or VRM as they have been called, has come out of hiding after seven years in seclusion. For those who do not remember their height, the VRM emerged shortly after the Downfall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named in the Spring of 1998, insisting that You-Know-Who had actually been a charitable, and virtuous man, whose message was misunderstood and corrupted. Rather than try and destroy us, the VRM claim, that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was actually tying to unite the Wizards of the world under one banner, until his brutal murder at the hands of the scheming villain Harry Potter._

_ Though it is obvious to any normal person that these claims hold no validity, the VRM have attracted many to their fold, especially those with Pure-Bloodist Beliefs. But now that the VRM is out of hiding, what is their goal?_

_ The VRM made a public announcement last night that their goal is to prove the crimes committed by Harry Potter, through the use of a "Lost Relic from the Battle of Hogwarts", though what this relic is was not said._

_ The Ministry of Magic has dismissed this message as an idle threat to instill fear and terror in the Wizarding population, so soon after the end of the Second Wizarding War._

The boys stared at the paper in shock, James had to reread the article two or three times before he believed that he had actually read the words. Then, after reading it for the fourth time, he threw the paper down and laughed. "What a load of rubbish." He said, "That anyone could actually believe that! Ha! What a bunch of morons!"

Jeremey and Andrew exchanged glances before Andrew said "Erm, James, I think that you may be missing the bigger issue here." Andrew sounded nervous, frightened even, clearly whatever this bigger issue was it was something pretty big.

"Alright, what's the big deal that I'm missing here?" James asked, rolling his eyes at Andrew's needless fear. However, it was Jeremey, not Andrew, who answered him. "If the VRM is after this Relic, regardless as to whether it exists or not, they'll be coming to Hogwarts to try and get it!" Taking a deep breath, he concluded "And that means that they'll be coming _here_! And no matter how stupid they may be, I don't want Dark Wizards knocking on my front door!"

James realized that they were right, and it occurred to him that if the Relic really was still at Hogwarts, then all of the students there, himself included, could be in grave danger. Still, Hogwarts was a fortress…surely it would be impossible for anyone to break into the grounds.

But most people were not so sure, as the Great Hall was soon filled with nervous students scurrying from table to table in order to discuss the news with friends as they heard it. Like any hot story in a school setting, the word about the VRM spread like wildfire, and soon the entire Great Hall was alight with feverish conversation concerning this mysterious, and probably dangerous, organization.

"Have you guys heard?" came a voice from behind them, and the boys turned to see Erin Malloy, standing there petrified and clinging to her brother Jason's shoulder for support. The whole thing would have been rather amusing if it had not been so terrifying to all of them.

"Yea Erin we've heard." Said James in a softer and gentler tone than any which he normally used. "Don't worry about it; I'm sure everything will be fine. There's no way that anyone could break into Hogwarts."

Erin's tension began to lift somewhat, and Jeremey jumped in saying, "It's all gonna be fine. I mean come on, who on earth would be crazy enough to try and break into this place? Just think of all the enchantments that must be protecting this Castle! If it could withstand a siege by You-Know-Who, then I doubt we need to worry about any old saps like this."

Erin smiled and said "I guess you guys are right. I'm gonna go make sure that Nick knows. Come on Jason." And with that, the two disappeared into the flowing mass of students.

"Who was that?" Teddy asked, leaning across the table with a smirk on his face.

"Erin Malloy, what's it matter?" asked Zach, who had never really liked Teddy despite the others assurances that he was cool, and had not been trying to get them into trouble that night.

"Hey relax kid…it's Zach right? I'm just curious to know what the name of Jamie's little girlfriend is." He said, staring at James and asking "So, are you going to ask her out or not?"

"Can it Teddy!" Andrew said, "James and Erin are just friends alright!" He turned away from Teddy, but then caught sight of James' face, which was bright red. "Oh, you're not…" Andrew began.

"Yea, I do alright!" James snapped, "Why'd you have to go running your mouth Teddy! I told you that in confidence!" But Teddy just laughed and said "It's for your own good James, trust me."

What had happened that morning didn't come up again that day, until the four First Years returned to their Dormitory late that night. James was sitting on his bed apparently deep in thought, and Jeremey was just staring at him blankly.

Finally, James couldn't take it anymore and snapped "What on earth are you staring at me like that for Jeremey? God!" He didn't need to deal with this right now, was Jeremey really that immature?

"You like Erin?" Jeremey said simply, "You _like,_ like her?" he asked, his voice sounding oddly distant and hollow.

Shaking his head James said "Yea Jer, so what if I do? What are you five years old? You think girls are icky and have cooties or something?" What was he on about? Hadn't Teddy made that perfectly clear that morning at breakfast.

Jeremey was silent for a long while, until finally he looked up at James and said "If only it were that simple." And then looked down again, seemingly fascinated with the floor beneath his bed.

James had no idea what Jeremey was talking about, but apparently Andrew had figured it out as he had leapt to his feet and was no pointing at Jeremey and shaking his head "No!" he said, "No way! You're kidding right, you're just messing with me!"

Jeremey did not answer, but looked mournfully up at Andrew and nodded his head twice before looking back down. Andrew immediately slapped his palm into his face and collapsed on his bed, as though he had never heard anything more stupid in his entire life.

James no longer had the patience for all of this back and forth so he shouted "What? What are you two talking about. I swear to god if you don't just come out with it I'll…"

"Oh isn't it obvious you moron!" Andrew snapped at James, sitting up before pointing at Jeremey and saying "Your best-friend has been trying to tell you all morning but you haven't been listening to him! You two bone-heads have fallen in love with the same girl!"

Immediately, Jeremey snapped upright and said "Shut the hell up Andrew! I was gonna tell him in like ten seconds, and you had to blurt it out!"

James was staring at Jeremey, unable to believe what he'd just heard. "You're kidding me right?" he said, waiting for someone to laugh and tell him the whole thing was a joke. Shaking his head he said "Well, you can't like her because…I owned up to it first, so I get dibs! That's how it works!"

"What are you talking about?" Jeremey shouted indignantly, "You can't call dibs on a human being?"

"Yes you can." Zach said in a bored tone from where he lay on his bed. "It's in the Bro-Code. You two are best-friends, therefore you're bros, and because James admitted to liking Erin first he gets her, end of story."

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my entire life!" Andrew said, "The Bro-Code? Are you serious? There's no such thing!"

"Yes there is!" James insisted, "It governs how Bros live with one another, and part of the Code is that you don't go after a girl that your Bro already called dibs on!"

"Alright can it James!" Jeremey shouted angrily, "First of all you _cannot_ call dibs on a person, no matter what this stupid made up code says. And second, who ever said that we were Bros?"

Neither of the other two, including Andrew, could stop from laughing at Jeremey at this. "Dude, you two _so_ are." Andrew said between spurts of laughter. "You two do _everything_ together!"

"I think that's a bit of an exaggeration." James interrupted, "We don't do _everything_ together."

"Yes." Said Zach, "You really do." When Jeremey and James started to protest he said "You always sit next to each other, and Andrew and I get kicked out of our seats if we try and get in the middle of you two, you do your homework together every night, you practice Quidditch together everyday when the rest of the team is resting, you laugh at jokes that only the two of you get…just face it, you're Bros."

Jeremey and James turned away from Zach and faced each other, each one staring at the other like he'd like nothing better than to strangle his 'best-friend' right there on the spot.

"Well then, maybe the two of us shouldn't be friends anymore!" James said bitterly.

"Maybe you're right!" Jeremey spat back.

"Fine!" James said with a hiss as he climbed into his bed and swung the curtains around it, hiding himself from the view of the others.

"Are you really going to let some stupid girl get between you two?" Andrew was saying, "You're eleven, my god, stop being so overly dramatic!"

There was a whisking sound as Jeremey's curtains closed around his bed as well, and then silence.

"Aw, they'll get over it in the morning." Zach said, as the lights in the room went out and he and Andrew turned in as well.

As James lay there in his bed fuming, he wondered how he had ever thought that a backstabbing traitor like Jeremey could be his friend. He had probably only pretended to like Erin out of spite, to try and beat out James at something. Yea, that was it. There was no way that his feelings for her were genuine, he decided as he went to sleep.

In the next bed, a single tear fluttered down the cheek of Jeremey Hall, unseen by anyone else…

**Authors Note: Last night, Friday October 13****th**** 2010, at 10:29 pm, I finished the writing of ****James Potter and the Continuous Legacy****. I will continue writing the Second Book in the series, I'll reveal the name in the last chapter of this one, as I upload a few chapters of this Book every day. Keep reading, and reviewing guys thanks so much for the support!**


	15. Chapter 15: Revenge or Reconciliation?

Chapter Fifteen: Revenge or Reconciliation?

If Zach had been expecting the two boys to reconcile the next morning he was sorely mistaken. The two boys barely looked at each other for half a second before simultaneously turning away and going about their business. As the two left the room in a huff, still refusing to look at each other, Zach exchanged a glance with Andrew and said "This is not going to be as easy as I thought."

At breakfast that day, the two sat on opposite sides of the Table, and Zach and Andrew drew straws to decide who would go sit with whom. It ended up with Zach going to sit by James, and Andrew sat with Jeremey. Jeremey was very quiet throughout the meal, being the opposite of his usual talkative and excitable self. James, on the other hand had plenty of things to say…most of them about his former friend.

"I bet he doesn't even really like her!" he said to Zach, "He's only doing it because he knows I like her and he wants to beat me out at something, remember what he said after the Quidditch Game?"

It had taken Zach a few moments to remember what James was talking about, before he said "James, he was kidding remember? That was the same night that you said you were going to blind the Keeper with a picture of Jeremey's ugly head!"

"Do not say that name in front of me!" James barked, "That name is dead to me! That name will always represent betrayal and spite!" he said, still brooding about how best to get back at Jeremey for what he did.

On the other side of the table, Andrew was trying to cheer Jeremey up. "He doesn't really hate you, just like you don't really hate him." But Jeremey was having none of that.

"What are you talking about, I hate him. I totally hate him!" but he wasn't fooling anyone, not even himself. Jeremey wasn't nearly as angry about the whole thing as James was, he had just allowed hi emotions to get the better of him the night before, which was why he had screamed and shouted along with James. Now, he was only going along with it because he felt that he had no other choice.

As November faded into December, and James and Jeremey were still not talking, Andrew and Zach began to get worried. The two had not spoken in over a week now, and the rest of the House was beginning to feel the void created by their feud. Classes now, for the most part, continued uninterrupted as neither boy felt like causing trouble. The Common Room had a subdued feel to it as two of its loudest occupants were mostly silent, and no one could remember the last time that the two had gone so long without a Detention…despite their limited time at Hogwarts thus far.

The December Game pitted Slytherin against Hufflepuff, a game in which Slytherin prevailed by the slimmest of margins…a game which neither James nor Jeremey attended.

During this time, though he confided that information in no one else, James wrote home almost every day, and most of his letters shared a common theme:

_Dear mom and dad,_

_Jeremey and I are still not talking…I miss him…_

_Dear mom and dad,_

_ I almost talked to Jeremey today, but I'm still mad at him…_

_Dear mom and dad,_

_ If I really hated Jeremey would I feel this upset that we weren't talking…_

However, his parents answers were never of much help. Always they told him to 'do what he thought was right' before writing the main part of their letter about how he was doing, and how classes were, and how everything was at home.

Christmas Break was coming up, and Jeremey and James hadn't been speaking to each other for almost three weeks. James was to be going home for Christmas Break, but what he hadn't told anyone yet was that his parents had told him to invite all of his Dorm-Mates over for Christmas as well.

Finally, one day, Andrew and Zach had had enough, and cornered James and Jeremey as they were about to leave Gryffindor Common Room one morning. "No one is going anywhere until you two sort this out!" Andrew had said, standing between the two and the door, daring them to try and get through him.

Admittedly it wasn't a fair fight, Zach had taken the two boys' wands from their dressers while they were sleeping. A low blow, but then, desperate times called for desperate measures.

Neither of the two said anything for a long time, unsaid words, and unspoken thoughts buzzing around both of their heads. Finally Jeremey broke the silence saying "I give up James, you can have her. I just want us to be friends again!"

Of everything that James had been expecting to hear, this was not it. "You're…that's it…you're…you're giving up?" James stuttered, unable to give voice to the confusion that was bubbling inside of him. "I thought you said you liked her, why are you giving up?"

Jeremey sighed and said "I do James, I do love her. But…I've thought long and hard about it and, our friendship means more to me than some girl. So if that's what it takes to save our friendship then that's what I'll do."

James was stunned, he hadn't expected this kind of response, and to be honest it had caught him quite off guard. "But…" he began, "but why, why would you do that?"

Jeremey shrugged, "I've gotta have my priorities in life man. And as Zach told me last week I believe one of the rules of that 'Bro Code' of yours is…"

"Bros before hoes." James finished, although being 11 none of them really understood the full meaning of what it was they were saying. Nor did they understand why the 'Code' constantly referred to girls as such weird words as that. But, it was the Code and…according to Uncle Ron and Uncle George, 'The Code' was not to be questioned.

Jeremey and James stood there for a moment, the silence lengthening, and then the two stepped forward and hugged. They didn't care if it was girly, or unmanly. All they cared about was that they had their best-friend back. The best-friend that they didn't even realize that they'd had until he wasn't there anymore.

Stepping apart, James said "Look Jer, I really overreacted to this whole thing. And I think that you were right…calling dibs on a person is kind of stupid."

Jeremey shrugged and nodded, but said nothing, at the same time though, Andrew was forcedly preventing Zach from bursting out that it was part of 'The Code' and you didn't go against 'The Code'.

"So how about this." James said, "Whoever she picks, that's who it'll be."

Jeremey laughed and said "Great, _another_ competition. I don't think we're ever happy if we don't have one of those."

"Still," James said, "The only fair way to decide it." As he said so he extended his hand and said "You game?"

"Alright." Jeremey said finally, "You're on!" and the two shook hands.

Things around Gryffindor Tower quickly returned back to normal after James and Jeremey made up. Of course, along with that came the continuing flow of detentions that the two boys acquired, but that didn't seem like such a big deal to anyone.

After the pair had gotten over their argument, James had invited the other three boys to come to his house for Christmas, a conversation that had taken some time to resolve.

Jeremey had agreed to come immediately as his parents were spending the holidays in Saskatchewan, and he had already told them that he wouldn't be able to get there in time for Christmas by the time Term stopped. Zach hadn't needed much persuading either as he was Jewish and his parents didn't celebrate Christmas.

Andrew, on the other hand, had taken a lot of convincing. It wasn't that Andrew didn't want to come, quite the contrary actually, but his parents did not like the idea of their family spending Christmas apart. In the end, Andrew's parents had agreed, only because Andrew had promised that he would return to his house early enough on Christmas Day that they could enjoy the holiday together. As the Knights and Potters lived close enough that Floo Powder was a valid option, this was simple enough to arrange.

Zach was looking forward to seeing exactly what Christmas was like, and Jeremey was eager to spend a Christmas somewhere that was not -30 Degrees Fahrenheit. All in all it was shaping up to be a great holiday.

"Alright Mr. Hall, perhaps you can tell us the key ingredient in the creation of the Draught of Living Death?" Professor Slughorn asked a clearly daydreaming Jeremey the last day of Term.

Starting at the sound of his name, Jeremey knew that he had no idea what the real answer was, so instead tried to get off the hook by being funny. "Well, you obviously have to make sure not to add too much sauce." Jeremey said coolly to the general amusement to all present.

"Not funny Mr. Hall! How about you Mr. Knight?" Even if he had been paying attention, Andrew could not more have answered this question than he could have flown, so he shot back at Professor Slughorn, "Nah I reckon Jer is right Professor. Too much sauce just ruins the flavor."

The classroom dissolved into chuckles again, which were silenced instantly when Professor Slughorn cried "No, no No! Enough jokes! Mr. Potter, if you please."

James glanced over at Jeremey and Andrew with an expression that read 'Is this guy serious?' Going to James Potter for an answer when the class was already riled up was asking for disaster.

"They're completely off the mark Professor; the Draught of Living Death requires extra sauce!" James said, keeping his expression completely level throughout.

Professor Slughorn was furious by this point, and the old man jumped up saying "Enough of these stupid jokes! Mr. Tolentino, please answer the question correctly. Or you'll all have Detention.

"Professor Slughorn," Zach said studiously, "I apologize for my friends' stupidity. Anyone with half a brain should know that you don't add sauce to the Draught of Living Death, that's completely preposterous. As any good potion maker knows, you're supposed to add syrup!"

The classroom dissolved into complete hysterics at this point, and Professor Slughorn gave up trying to teach the class anything new. However, before they left he did have time to say "Mr. Hall, Mr. Tolentino, Mr. Knight, and Mr. Potter, you will all have Detention with me the second Monday after we return from holiday break. Merry Christmas to you all!"

In all fairness they couldn't really complain, they had caused an entire Potion's Class to be wasted…which in their minds also made the Detention that they were going to have to serve well worth it. Professor Slughorn's Detentions generally consisted of listening to him talk about his famous former students for about 45 minutes, before he let you go out of pity, like a fisherman releasing a tiny minnow.

But they wouldn't have to worry about that until after they got back from Christmas Break! They were free, free to do whatever they wanted without the specter of classes and teachers hanging over their head. Plus, Zach and Andrew were salivating over the prospect of finally getting to meet the famous Harry Potter. Jeremey, on the other hand, was not so freaked out about it.

"Don't take this the wrong way." He said, "But your dad's not all that big over in America. For the most part, the damage that Voldemort caused there was turned back by the American Aurors…and since Voldemort never directed his full attention there, they don't really realize how powerful he was."

Jeremey always startled the others with his willingness to use the word 'Voldemort' which, again, sprung from him having grown up in Canada where Voldemort was never nearly as powerful as he was in Great Britain. There had been some attacks on North America, as everywhere else in the world, but the American Congress of Magic, and the Canadian Ministry of Magic had remained intact, and beyond Voldemort's reach.

"That'd be nice for a change." James said as the four boarded the Hogwarts Express, which would take them back to King's Cross Station and London for the holidays, "He gets bugged when people are always fawning over him."

The train steamed as it pulled out of Hogsmeade Station and chugged away, leaving Hogwarts behind in a wake of steam and smoke…


	16. Chapter 16: Christmas at the Potters'

Chapter Sixteen: Christmas at the Potter's

It had taken James all of seven seconds after stepping off the Hogwarts Express to begin bragging to Albus about all of the adventures that he and his friends had gone through during their time at Hogwarts. He had paused only long enough to, despite his protestations that hugs were wimpy, hug both of his parents before ripping into his brother.

In James' defense, he was only 11 years old, despite all of his outer bravado, and he missed his parents desperately during his time at Hogwarts. He had also, though he was loath to admit it, missed his little brother, but rather than actually admit that he decided to taunt his brother with stories of how great Hogwarts had been.

"Hey Mom, Dad, Al, Lily! These are my friends, Jeremey, Andrew, and Zach, and let me tell you Al, you would not _believe_ some of the awesome stuff that we did!" James' friends were still in the process of introducing themselves to James' parents when James continued describing the stories to his younger brother, who was growing more and more jealous by the second.

"We broke into Filtch's Office early in the year," James started, "And there were all these little skulls and stuff from bratty little students that he's had killed. You better be careful Al, or you'll end up as one of them!" James teased, growing more and more interested in his half-fake-stories, the more upset Albus got.

"No I won't!" Albus protested, "I won't!" he shouted again, much to James' amusement. Who continued taunting his brother by saying "Yea, and you know what else Albus? We saw the Giant Squid! It really does exist, and every Monday they feed annoying little kids like you to it. I already volunteered you for the first feeding next year, so you should put on some weight or you won't be filling enough.

Albus looked at his mother for reassurance, who in turn looked at James' three Dorm-Mates and asked "Has he been like this all year?" she asked, sounding exasperated and somewhat amused all at the same time.

"Yup." "Pretty much." "Nonstop." Came the responses, none of which James' parents seemed to find very surprising. "Don't worry Al, they won't feed you to the Giant Squid." Mrs. Potter said to little Albus, "They would never allow something like that to happen at Hogwarts."

Albus did not look altogether reassured, but he nodded at his mother, and kept his distance from his brother until they got back to Grimauld Place. Once they got there, he would ask one of James' friends what Hogwarts was really like. That way, he'd be able to hear it from someone who wasn't trying to freak him out for the sheer amusement of it all.

As the Potters reached Grimauld Place in their car, as they had decided to drive rather than waste time trying to register a Portkey with the Ministry of Magic, James realized something and said to his parents, "Oh yea, dad you need to tell them where the House is!"

Jeremey Andrew and Zach all found this to be exceptionally odd, weren't they going to just follow the Potters into the house? However, Mr. Potter noticed their confusion and said "James is referring to the fact that our house is still under the protection of a weakened-Fidelius Charm, but a Fidelius Charm all the same. You can't see it unless one of the Secret Keepers tell you where it is. As I am one of them I will gladly tell you that the Potter House is located at Number 12 Grimauld Place, London."

"A Fidelius Charm?" Zach asked, never having heard of such an enchantment before in his limited magical experience.

"It's a long story." James said, explaining as simply as he could the way in which such a Charm worked and, more importantly, why it had been necessary to employ a Fidelius Charm on the Potter residence. The Charm had, of course, been applied long before the house was being used for its current purpose. Back then it had been the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, and as such it still contained the odd memento or two from its time as the Headquarters of the Anti-Voldemort Movement.

As the car pulled up in front of Number Twelve Grimauld Place, Andrew noticed that from the moment their car entered the Driveway, the Muggles who were watching the car drive by shook their head and turned away, as though the car had simply vanished from their view, convincing them that they had imagined ever seeing it. Which, he had to remind himself, was exactly how it must have appeared from their perspective.

"Well, this is home." James said, as he lead his friends inside, hoping that they would approve of the place. He had never before realized just how old the place looked, but then again that was part of the place's feel and James rather liked it.

"Sick!" Jeremey exclaimed, "Wicked!" Andrew added, "Sweet!" Zach quipped in there as they entered the house, and James breathed a sigh of relief. How had he ever been worried?

On Christmas Morning, James woke up the moment that the sun had appeared over the horizon, and cast a glance at each of the three prone forms lying in various locations around his bedroom. Never before had he appreciated how many people could have fit in that room, and he had been irate when his parents had suggested that he share a room with Albus.

Jeremey was curled up on a lounge chair next to James' card table, looking remarkably animal-like from the way in which he had curled himself into a small ball. Andrew was on the couch, the polar opposite of Jeremey, taking up more space than James would have thought someone so small could possibly fill. Zach had drawn the short straw and was sprawled out on a beanbag chair on the floor beside James' bed.

"OI! Wake up you guys!" James said, throwing a pillow at each of his friends…except for Zach. He had run out of pillows, and instead threw the next nearest thing he could get his hands on. Unfortunately for Zach, this just happened to be his Potion's Textbook, which had been lying on James' bedside table.

Jeremey and Zach immediately looked up like dogs that had smelt something tasty, but Zach was too busy rubbing the back of his head in pain to be very enthusiastic. "What in Merlin's…" Zach grumbled, sitting up and staring at James' Potion's Book for a few seconds before saying "I thought we agreed on never using those books." At which James could not suppress a laugh.

"Come on you lot, let's go downstairs!" James said excitedly. He and Albus had been pestering their parents for months, Al in person and James in his letters, for a puppy, and James was hopeful that his parents may have given in and gotten them one.

The four boys trudged downstairs, where the rest of James' family was already waiting. Though the entirety of James' immensely large extended family had been there for Christmas dinner the night before, they had all gone home for Christmas morning. James had found the whole thing incredibly embarrassing, especially when his Grandmother had gone up to James' friends and said "Why didn't you send me a picture of your little friends Jamie? I could have made wonderful sweaters for them."

The night had also been highlighted by James and Jeremey walking into the drawing room looking for Teddy, only to find him snogging Victoire Weasley!

"What are you doin' Teddy?" James had asked loudly, causing Victoire's face to grow red, and Teddy's hair to flush the same color. Victoire had run from the room, but Teddy had stood there, staring at James for a moment. After a few moments had gone by, Jeremey had broken the silence by asking "How'd you get her to do that?" which had caused everyone to laugh.

But now, James' annoying doting relatives had all gone home, and he would only have to put up with his parents and his siblings. Of course, the presence of his friends would hopefully make it a lot more enjoyable.

James was greedily eying his presents, trying to decide which one to open first when his father said "James, why don't you and Al open this one first?" he suggested, pointing to a rather large box at the front of the tree…it was quivering slightly.

Both James and Albus grew wide eyed, "Daddy…" Albus began, "It's a puppy isn't it?" James exclaimed! The two boys immediately fell upon the box chanting "Puppy! Puppy! Puppy! YES!" inside, was a small, brown-furred puppy, who was clawing at the walls of his cardboard prison trying to get out.

Jeremey Andrew and Zach, who had been tearing at their own piles of presents which their parents and relatives had mailed over, immediately stopped what they were doing to come over and see James' new dog. "Aw…look at how tiny he is!" said Jeremey, who immediately got odd glanced from Andrew and Zach for his comment.

"What are you gonna name him?" Andrew asked.

James and Albus then spent the next half hour bouncing name ideas back and forth. As they did so, the boys opened the rest of their presents which, for James included something almost as good as a puppy: a guitar!

"Wicked!" James said, strumming on the strings experimentally. "Oh cool, we can jam some time…once I learn how to play mine," Jeremey said with a laugh, admitting that his guitar skills were not very good but he was trying to learn at some point or another.

Finally, James and Albus agreed to name the Puppy 'Dobby' after their favorite hero in all of their dad's stories: the little House Elf who gave his life to save their father from Lord Voldemort!

All in all, it was probably the best Christmas that James had ever had…he had even forgotten to be mean to Albus and tease him about how amazing Hogwarts was. Late that night, when the four boys returned to James' room for the night, James allowed Albus to join them so that they could both spend the extra time with little Dobby.

"I still say my dog's cuter than yours." Jeremey said as he curled up in the lounge chair again, watching James and Albus chase the dog back and forth across James' bedspread. "No way Jer, no way your dog can compete with this little guy." James said as he pet the dog across his head, happy beyond words that he finally had a dog to call his own…even if he did have to share him with Albus.

A few days later, it was time to board the Hogwarts Express once more and return to Hogwarts. The Holiday Break was over, and Term was starting again, so they needed to get back to the Castle. Just before he had gotten on the train, James had pulled his father aside.

"Dad, I need to talk to you about something." James had said, unsure about how he was going to tell his father what he wanted to tell him.

Harry, from his son's tone, immediately assumed that his son had done something terrible and began thinking _Oh god, what could it possibly be? So long as he didn't kill anyone…so long as he didn't kill anyone…_

"What is it James?" he finally asked, praying that it was not anything that serious.

James sputtered for a moment before saying "I did something bad dad, something really bad."

That was not what Harry had wanted to hear, but he forced himself to remain calm. After all, 'bad' was relative wasn't it? "OK James, what did you do?" he asked, forcing himself to remain calm and level-headed.

"I…" James stuttered again, as though reconsidering telling his father before finally blurting out, "I fell in love with the same girl as my best friend!"

Harry had been expecting one of a number of things to come from James' mouth, but that was not one of them. How was that even necessarily a bad thing? But then he remembered how sensitive he had been about that subject at his son's age, and decided to be sympathetic. "OK James, and have you two talked about this?"

James glanced downward and said "Um…Yea. We had a big fight, and didn't talk for three weeks. That's why we were fighting…remember I told you in my letters."

Harry could barely bring himself to keep from laughing as he said "I thought you had like an actual fight. Like a duel or something." He explained, before adding unhelpfully "Well, you're talking now."

"Yea." James said, "We talked about it, and said that whoever she decided on we'd both accept that. But dad, I have to ask you something…how do I make her like me?"

There it was, that question. Harry had been hoping that he would have a few more years to come up with an answer before James had asked him that question. Unfortunately, he didn't have that time, and was going to have to think of an answer on the spot.

"Well," he began "I guess the only advice I can give you is to be yourself, and if it's meant to be then it will work out."

James waved his hands, gesturing his father to continue. He needed more information than just that.

With a sigh, Harry said "Um…be nice to her, and give her flowers or something…pay her compliments, girls love that kind of stuff." Jeez, first crush at 11 years old…that was pretty rough.

James nodded, wishing that his father could have given him some more advice than that. But still, he would use it…and hope that it worked.

_And even if it doesn't_ James decided, _I've still got my devilish good looks to rely on!_


	17. Chapter 17: Hogwarts Alight

Chapter Seventeen: Hogwarts Alight

Things at Hogwarts had gone right back to the way that they had been before they left for Christmas Break. James and the others managed to get out of their Detention with Slughorn after a mere thirty minutes of listening to stories about how Professor Slughorn had taught James' parents, and all four boys were looking forward to Gryffindor's upcoming match with Ravenclaw. The Ravenclaw Team had not yet played a game, but Teddy was reporting that Ravenclaw's lineup was looking quite formidable.

However, things were also starting to become more and more dangerous. Every day, the Dailey Prophet was running a new story about the dangers posed by the MHM, and Hogwarts light up with terror when it was revealed that a member of the organization had been seen not too far away from Hogwarts. James however, had not been too fussed about this news.

"It's not like they're actually _at_ Hogwarts are they?" he had asked disinterestedly. "It only said that he was seen _near_ Hogwarts. I mean, who knows what exactly that means. Is 'near' ten miles, or a thousand? It's all based on perspective!"

The others had been forced to admit that James had a point, and the talk about the MHM died down over the next few days as the news began to fade from the minds of the students of Hogwarts, just as it had the first time around.

Just as the fear of the MHM was starting to fade from everyone's thoughts once again, the fateful day of Gryffindor's Quidditch Game with Ravenclaw rolled around, and the Castle was once again alight with anticipation and activity. The 7th Year gambling pools had Gryffindor with a 57% chance of victory, but James thought that it was definitely much higher than that.

When the day of the Match arrived it could not have been more different than the morning of their first game. The sky outside was cloudy and downcast. And rain came pouring down from the sky along with a healthy dose of thunder. As the players took to the field, Jeremey commented "It's too windy for this! I'm gonna get blown around like a kite in this wind!"

James could not argue with Jeremey on that, neither boy weighed more than 60 or 70 pounds, and consequentially the wind was definitely going to have an adverse effect on their ability to fly. It was in situations like this that those who had ridiculed Teddy for putting such young players on the team were going to draw their ammunition from. If they could find a way to overcome the disadvantage that the wind left them with, they would prove once and for all that they deserved to be out there just as much as everyone else.

At the same time, the Ravenclaw Team was also very young. There were two First Years on the Ravenclaw Team, just like the Gryffindor Team, both Beaters. That decision especially had led to a lot of questioning as Beaters were generally bigger and stronger players, but Jason and Paul had gotten along with their duties very well in practice.

James uttered a silent prayer to the Gods of Quidditch, and a sideways glance at Jeremey told him that the other boy was going through one of his various pre-game rituals in order to ensure that his team would carry the luck during the Match. They were as weird and complicated as they were numerous, and stretched from the things he ate for breakfast to the place where he hovered at the start of the game. Even some of the things that he did after a game supposedly had bearing on how he would perform in his next game. Jeremey had confided in James that he only did these things to calm himself down before the game, and that he didn't really believe any of it, but James wasn't going to argue with it. Whatever it was, it worked.

The brooms from both sides sped out onto the Pitch, but James could barely see anything in the pouring and pounding rain. "Jeremey!" he yelled, hearing a response, but having no idea where it had come from. "Catch that Snitch quick! I think I might fall off my broom in this wind!"

But Jeremey did not catch the Snitch quickly, the Match dragged on for hours and hours while players flew half-blind in the rain. The score was 240-270 in their favor, and no one had any idea where more than two or three people where.

All of a sudden, James found himself in possession of the Quaffle and began speeding towards the goal hoops when, out of nowhere there was a whistle! Coach Dunn was shouting to get everyone's attention, and was announcing that the game was over. James had no idea what was going on until he saw Jeremey lying sideways on his broom behind Coach Dunn, rolling the Snitch back and forth on his fingertips.

Apparently, Jeremey had caught the Snitch about twenty minutes before hand, but it had taken him ten minutes to get Coach Dunn's attention and show him the struggling golden ball caught in his fist. It had been raining so hard that no one had seen Jeremey catch the Snitch…except for Ravenclaw Chaser Amanda Reiner, who begrudgingly admitted that she'd seen it happen.

Despite the unorthodox manner in which the game had ended, the Gryffindors were proud of their victory, and threw a huge Party in the Gryffindor Common Room, praising their Seeker who had caught a Snitch he couldn't even see.

By the next day, however, the Gryffindor's pride and happiness had turned to shock and outrage, as word began to circulate about what had happened after the game had ended. Apparently, Remington Parker had ambushed Teddy Lupin as he was leaving the Locker Room and attempted to jinx him.

According to eye-witnesses, Teddy had managed to stave off the initial attack, and had managed to engage Remington in a duel before he was taken out from behind by another member of the Slytherin Team. Though Teddy was in the Hospital Wing, and there were dozens of people who witnessed the attack, Remington went unpunished, something that James found morally unacceptable.

In the Gryffindor Common Room, the Quidditch Team had hung up a banner with Remington's face that read "Public Enemy Number One" and students began offering 'Bounties' for anyone who brought them Remington, dead or alive! James, however, was not interested in such theatrics, and was more concerned with getting his own revenge against the person who had put Teddy Lupin in the Hospital Wing.

"He's going down!" James said angrily when the four met in their Dormitory one day to discuss how they were going to deal with this cowardly attack on their friend. Jeremey was all for poisoning his food, but Andrew reminded them that committing a felony and getting themselves arrested was not going to help Teddy.

"Well, we've got to do something!" Jeremey had protested, and the four had finally decided on randomly jinxing Remington at every opportunity.

"Just throw the first spell that comes to mind at him and run away." James had suggested, and eventually they all agreed that this was the most logical course of action.

And so would start the long process known amongst Gryffindors as 'Operation Jinx Remy'. Not the most sophisticated, or secretive name, but it was still rather catchy. After some deliberation, it had been agreed upon that James, Jeremey, Andrew, and Zach would take on the task by themselves, as the more people who were involved the less likely it would be that they would get caught.

"I still don't like this plan." Andrew said, the night that they finally decided on their plan. "It just feels wrong, like we're stooping to his level or something."

James, however, had not been overly bothered by this point. "What's the problem with stooping to his level? When you're dealing with scum like that there's really no such thing as stooping too low is there? Cause, no matter how low we go, we still won't be as low as him.

Zach, however, hadn't been so supportive of the idea either, "Look I've gotta go with Andrew on this one. It's like we're taking this thing just a few steps too far."

James shook his head and said, rather unnecessarily as he had already made his point on the issue clear, "Jeremey where do you stand on all of this?"

Jeremey had shrugged and said "I'm not gonna argue with them if they don't like the idea but I think that it's a great idea! I mean, this guy is absolute scum! He deserves whatever he gets! And it's not like anything we do to him is gonna cause any lasting harm."

Andrew rolled his eyes, "Surprise surprise, 'Jeremey I'll worry about it later Hall' thinks that there's absolutely nothing that could possibly go wrong with this. Gee, where have I heard that one before?"

James shrugged and said "It's two to two Andrew, which makes it a tie. And since we already agreed to it that means we go forward with it."

Zach shook his head and said "Nah, you and Jer only get one vote between you cause you always agree on everything, so it's actually two to one, which means we DON'T do it!"

Jeremey groaned and said "Look, we're never going to agree on this, so let's just move on. James and I are going to go forward with it, and if you two don't want to help then you don't have to."

As it turned out, Andrew and Zach would end up helping James and Jeremey jinx Remington, if only half-heatedly. While Jeremey would hurl whatever First-Year-level jinx that was on their tongues at the older Slytherin every time the boy had his back turned, Andrew and Zach were much more reserved in when they chose to attack Remington, as well as the severity of the jinxes that they used.

While James and Jeremey used the most harmful and hurtful jinxes that they knew, including some that were generally only taught to older students, Andrew and Zach made sure to only use spells that would be certain to wear off over time. While Jeremey and James viewed this as softness, Andrew and Zach would routinely point out that it was simply common human decency; something that the other two seemed to forget about where Remington was concerned.

As the month wore on, Remington started to figure out what was going on, and started to insist on being escorted everywhere he went by a group of other Slytherins, but the boys still managed to find ways to get him every now and then. Their success came mostly from the fact that Remington never was able to figure out who it was that was jinxing him all the time. And he could not very well keep his eyes on every student who walked past him, even when he was being followed around by his friends.

Eventually, after Teddy was released from Hospital Wing at the end of the month, the boys gave up on their campaign to jinx Remington every time he turned a corner…mostly because Teddy told them that enough was enough and he would take care of his own problems without their help. So, feeling somewhat slighted, the boys backed off, much to Andrew and Zach's relief, and waited to see how Teddy would 'take care of' Remington. James was picturing epic displays of wandwork and curses that would leave Remington thinking that he was on Pluto in the year 1987.

But, much to all of their disappointments, especially James, as the month came to an end, nothing had happened yet. Remington and Teddy never had a standoff, never dueled again, and never started throwing hexes back and forth. It seemed that whatever Teddy had done, if he had done anything, he had done it already, and they had missed it.


	18. Chapter 18: The Forbidden Forest

Chapter Eighteen: The Forbidden Forest

The upcoming Quidditch Game between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff was the talk of the school, as the losing team would fall out of contention for the Quidditch Cup. Most money was on Ravenclaw, which had the speed and skill that Hufflepuff lacked. Besides, who in their right minds would ever bet on Hufflepuff? Especially with a First Year Keeper minding the pipes.

However, Hufflepuff House proved all their critics wrong as they roared past Ravenclaw in a decisive 340-120 win. Though there had been a great amount of doubt hanging over his shoulders, but Christian Kennedy had performed exceptionally earning the begrudging respect of students around the school as a phenomenal young Keeper.

James especially, had been very impressed by Christian's play. He remembered talking to Christian about Quidditch briefly before, but had never paid the boy much mind before. Always he had just been another face in the crowd, not someone whom James really paid attention to. Now, however, Christian had gained James' respect and, in many ways, admiration. Even Jeremey, who was very hard to impress when it came to Quidditch, was singing Christian's praises after the game.

So the next day, they had hunted Christian down after Charms class and told him about how impressed with his play they had been. Christian, clearly not someone used to so many compliments, blushed and thanked them, saying that he'd been hearing that a lot over the past few days. The three started talking, and before too long they were talking as though they had known each other for years.

"So where'd you learn to play Quidditch Christian, from what I've heard it isn't very popular in the States." James had asked.

"Well that's true." Christian said, "In most places of the States it's really not that big, but where I grew up was one of the bigger enclaves in the country." Christian then went on to explain how his Uncle had played Quidditch in the American League, Professionally…as if there was anything cooler than that, and had taught him how to play Quidditch when he was little.

James was flabbergasted. "You got to learn from a Pro?" he exclaimed, "You are SOO lucky! What is he like?" However, Christian had been very unhelpful in answering James' queries.

"I dunno, he's just Uncle Walter to me." James had said, "It'd be just like me asking you what it's like growing up with Harry Potter as your father. You don't think of him like that do you? He's just dad to you."

Despite his anger over not being able to gain more insight from his explanation, James could not deny that Christian was right. That was exactly what he had said to the other kids on the train when they had asked him what it was like to grow up with the infamous Harry Potter as his father.

Still, he wished that Christian was able to give him more information than that. After all, growing with a Professional Quidditch Player as a relative was far more interesting than living with someone who had defeated some evil wizard a thousand years ago, but now wasn't really any different than anyone else's father.

Plus, the thing that James never liked to talk about, was his fear of living his entire life in his father's shadow. No matter what he did, people were always going to be comparing him to his father. He was only a First Year, and it had already started, his grades, his Quidditch performance, his trouble making, all had been compared to his father already. That was why he had decided that he wasn't going to try and live up to his father's legacy. Because unless a new Voldemort conveniently popped out of the group for him to destroy, that just wasn't going to happen.

Instead, he had decided that he was going to create a new legacy, completely different from his father's. He was going to do things that his father had never done! That way, they couldn't compare them, instead they wouldn't talk about things that Harry had done, or things that James had done…but instead about things that 'The Potters' had done.

Eventually, the conversation turned to lighter topics, such as the chances of their respective Houses to win the Quidditch Cup at the end of the year. Christian was not too confident about Hufflepuff's odds, but Jeremey and James told him that they were certain that Hufflepuff would have a great run…and ultimately lose to Gryffindor.

Eventually, their conversation worked its way to Jeremey and James' repeated attacks against Remington, which most of the school had guessed that they were behind. The two confirmed Christian's suspicions that they were indeed behind the attacks, and asked him if he would want to join in, totally forgetting about their previous promised to Teddy that they were going to stop.

"It's a lot of fun!" James maintained, "and we've never gotten caught by a teacher, or by one of the Snakes." He continued, pestering Christian until he was willing to go along with them, which admittedly did not take much work. Like Jeremey and James, Christian was well accustomed to rule-breaking and pranking.

With the help of the Marauder's Map, which James now carried around with him at all times, it took them no time at all to locate Remington, who was in the library lazing around with some of his Housemates who were all studying for their upcoming Exams.

As they entered the library, the boys immediately fell silent, knowing that attracting any attention to themselves whatsoever would result in them turning up in the list of probably suspects when the teachers came to call.

Settling into place behind a row of bookshelves, James pushed a book aside and said to Christian "The honor is yours my American friend."

Christian did not hesitate, showing the aim of a tried and practices prankster, Christian slid his wand through the gap in the books and whispered something so low that the other two could not hear him. There was the faintest of hazes as whatever spell Christian had cast sped towards Remington, but no bright jet of light that usually accompanied a spell. However, Christian must have done something, as Remington was lifted up out of his chair and slammed against the wall.

"Oh snap!" Jeremey muttered, before spinning on his heel and rushing for the door alongside James and Christian. However, before they could go more than two or three steps, they were cornered by Professor Lund. "I saw what you just did!" she declared, staring down at the three of them.

"Um Professor," James began, "It's not what you think, that is to say we…" However, Professor Lund cut him off with a wave of her hand and barked "Quiet Potter! There's no talking your way out of this one! I saw you knock over all those books!"

As one, the boy's expressions changed from fear to bewilderment. Knocked over…what? Simultaneously, they spun around and saw what she was talking about. In their haste to escape from the library, they had knocked over more than half the books on the bookshelf, scattering them across the floor.

"Um…well, you see…" Christian began, but Professor Lund cut them off again and said "Detention! Tonight! In my office!" and strode out of the library, leaving the boys to wonder at their good luck. "Is she really that clueless?" Christian asked as Professor Lund strode away, to which James replied "Yea, pretty much. Still, after what we just got out of I'm not complaining."

"Agreed." Said Jeremey, "We'd probably have gotten suspended if she knew what we were really up to…you know, if she had any brains in that head of hers." He added, laughing hysterically at his own pathetic joke.

Later that night, the boys were set to serve their detention in Professor Lund's Office. By all standards, it was one of the more boring detentions that James had ever sat through. All they were forced to do was sort through some of Professor Lund's old classroom notes, and file those which were related to one another together in her filing cabinet.

When their detention was finally over, the three boys walked out of the classroom, looking for something to do before dinner. Jeremey was all for just going back to the Common Room until dinner, but James insisted that they do something more interesting. Finally, Christian proposed that they go check out the Forbidden Forest, which both of the other two thought was a great idea as they had never gotten the chance to visit it yet.

As they strode across the grounds, James was struck by how large the Forest really was. In fact, they were so large that it was hard for him to believe that they were really expected to never go in them. It enveloped the grounds in its massive embrace, surrounding the grounds on which they had spent most of their day with its leafy shadows. No matter where you looked, you could still see the enormous Forest. It was almost as though it was inviting them to enter it!

James was the first to enter through the leafy canopy, followed by Jeremey, and Christian brought up the rear. The forest-path was not wide enough for more than one person to walk down at a time, so they were forced to walk single-file.

"You think all the rumors about this place are true?" Jeremey asked eagerly, more excited than afraid, "Like that it's full of Werewolves, and Giants, and Acromantulas and stuff?"

"Well there are definitely Acromantulas, my dad told me that." James said, an edge of fear overlying his voice. He was probably more afraid than Jeremey was because he had a better idea of some of the dangers that awaited them. While the other boy could only guess at what they would find, James knew all too well the kinds of creatures that lived in there, courtesy of his father and Uncles, who had spent far too much time in there.

Suddenly, there was the sound of rustling grass, and out of nowhere, a tall figure burst from the trees ahead of them. The figure was tall and regal looking, he had four legs like a horse, but his upper body was that of a tanned and muscular man. It was a centaur, one of the ancient guardians of the forest!

The Centaur stared at them coldly, before growling "Why have you come to our forest humans?" James knew from experience that Centaurs did not take well to outsiders intruding on their traditional tribal lands. And, if what the Centaur had said was anything to go by, they were most certainly guilty of trespassing.

"Oh, we didn't mean to…we were just lost!" James said, realizing that if this Centaur believed that they were trespassing on their land then they were in a very dangerous situation. The other two seemed to realize it as well, as not even Jeremey, who never shut his mouth if his life depended on it, was silent as the grave.

"No, you humans never learn. You never remember those things that you ought not to be forgetting. But we Centaurs, our memories are long. We never forget, always remember…even those things that are better off being left forgotten." The Centaur said, staring up at the skies as though he found the heavens far more interesting than the three humans that stood cowering before him.

The Centaur sighed heavily before speaking again, "Always it is the same, you humans have eyes only for those things that are right in front of your noses, never do you see anything that isn't handed to you on a silver platter. The world moves around you, and you do not notice. The world changes, shifts, and churns, and yet you take no notice! The doom of your kind comes, and you fail to take heed!"

James was not in the mood to decipher what this Centaur was trying to say, so he said in an attempt at a respectful voice. "Wise Centaur, guardian of the forest, we pray your pardon for entering into your sacred lands. Please, um…pardon our…transgression? Transgression, and allow us to pass from these lands, and we shall never be of any bother to you or your kind ever again."

The Centaur merely laughed, as though he had found what James had said to be amusing rather than flattering, and commented dryly, "He had been trained well. Very well, be gone from my presence humans! You are welcome in the forest so long as you do not disturb the Centaurs. I can see you are not one of _them_!" he spat out the last word like it was a foul and disgusting swearword.

"Mr. Potter." The Centaur said, and James turned around in alarm…he did not remember telling the Centaur his name, "Take heed that you do not stumble upon that which you would rather not find. There is an evil in this forest, seeking a power that has lay dormant here for many moons. Take heed James Potter, take heed!"

As the sun poked out from the endless stretch of trees, a figure rises from its bed and looks out the window. The sun is glowing with a warmth and radiance as it fills the grounds with a beautiful light that the Castle had not seen in some rainy weeks. The figure walks beside the bed where it had been sleeping and glances at the bedside table, there are two roses there…each bearing its own card. The first one read:

Though I see you every day, and you me, you do not see me in the light in which I see you. Happy Valentine's Day.

Love,

Your Secret Admirer

The second read:

Day breaks, and the light of heaven breaks over your beauty. But how I wish you could see how I love you.

A Friend

Confused and surprised, as she had never even received a single card before, the girl compared the two and ascertained that the handwriting on the two were indeed different. But she could not recognize either of them.

Finally, she gave up and left the cards on her table and left the Dormitory, but not before taking one last joyful glance at the roses. Grinning to herself, Erin Malloy skipped from the Girl's Dormitory down to the Ravenclaw Common Room.


	19. Chapter 19: What Goes On

Chapter Nineteen: What Goes on

The boys had not discussed what had happened in the forest with anyone, even Andrew and Zach had not been told what had happened until some days later when Jeremey finally gave in and told them. That night, the four of them had had another conversation in their Dormitory.

"I reckon that's it!" Andrew said, "Whatever the VRM is after, that artifact or whatever. It's in the Forbidden Forest, that's what the Centaurs were trying to tell you."

"Rubbish!" Jeremey had argued, "He wasn't trying to tell us anything, other than never to go near his precious forest ever again."

"I dunno," Zach said, "Andrew's got a point. It sounds like he was trying to warn you guys that there was something there. But at the same time, Centaurs don't like to share their knowledge with others. I have a hard time believing that he would have told you something like that."

James was silent for a long time before saying "I agree with Zach. The Centaur was definitely trying to tell us something, but it definitely didn't have anything to do with those VRM people! That's just too big, Centaurs never share big important stuff like that with humans! I mean, we're not much better than mud in their eyes. They think we're just so simple and unintelligent."

They had continued to argue the point for several more hours, but James did not change his mind, nor did anyone else for that matter. But James knew that he was right. The Centaur had been talking to him after all, he knew what the message had been.

Gryffindor's final Quidditch Game of the season was coming up, and a victory would clinch them a spot in the Quidditch Cup Finals. However, they were playing Hufflepuff, and James knew that they were going to be hard to beat…especially with Christian in between the hoops.

The other Gryffindor Chasers had pestered James for information, assuming that since he'd spent so much time with Christian that he must know what his weaknesses were. Everyone, especially Teddy, was deathly afraid of Christian and the way in which he could change the course a game would take. In that way, he had all of the skill and ability of some of the best Keepers in the Pro Game, though he was only 11. It was his ability to take control of a game, and keep his team in it long enough to get them going, that made him such a special player.

Jeremey, on the other hand, had been meticulously practicing his reaction time, as well as his hand eye coordination. Jeremey was adamant that Slytherin would beat Ravenclaw in the last game of the season and oust Gryffindor if they did not seal their trip to the Finals by beating Hufflepuff today.

The morning of the Match was much clearer than their last one, and Jeremey commented that when he caught the Snitch this time around everyone would be able to see him do it. A boast which brought a fair amount of laughter from those seated at the Gryffindor Table.

While James was able to eat some breakfast, he was one of the few who were able to stomach even the slightest morsel of food. Jeremey looked like he was going to vomit at any moment, Teddy was staring at his plate like he would rather throw it out the window than eat anything off of it, and Jay was absolutely stone-faced. The only person who seemed completely unperturbed was Alex, who ate normally, as though there was nothing of interest going on that day.

When he took the time to look at the Hufflepuff Table he noticed more of the same. For if Hufflepuff lost this game they too were in jeopardy of losing out on the run for a Finals berth. Christian was jittery and jumpy, flying three feet in the air every time someone tried to talk to him. James felt back for his friend. He was expected to carry the entire Hufflepuff Team on his back, and he had been doing so all year long to this point, but it had to be a dreadful burden to bear.

Finally, when it became clear that none of them were going to be able to force down another mouthful no matter how much they might want to, the Gryffindor Team rose as one and set out for the locker room. Around two or three minutes later, the Hufflepuff Team did the same.

In the locker room, Teddy lashed into the players verbally, reminding them how well they had played to get there, and what it would mean if they lost. Hufflepuff was a great team, possibly one of the best out there, and they had a shut down Keeper that was going to be a very big problem to Gryffindor's usually high flying offense. This put a lot of pressure on their Beaters, who were not the most skilled pair out there, and left them extremely vulnerable.

Scott Nash and his brother Calvin were the best in the business, and it was widely accepted that Gryffindor's matchup of Jay Carpenter and Alex Dellapina was one of the weakest in recent memory. Plus, Dwayne Powelly, another First Year, had recently joined Hufflepuff's lineup, giving their offense the booster shot it needed to keep pace with Gryffindor's.

Plus, Billy Hewitt was going to be a tough matchup for Jeremey. The Hufflepuff Seeker was probably just as quick fast and agile as Jeremey, but he was bigger and couldn't be knocked around as easily. Plus, he had two years of experience under his belt, whereas Jeremey had none. In a clutch situation, that may be the difference between victory and defeat.

All in all, Gryffindor looked thoroughly outmatched when it took to the field, and Hufflepuff was hungry for their second consecutive victory. As the balls were released to start the game, Hufflepuff immediately pounced on an under skilled and overconfident Gryffindor Team.

Before the Gryffindors even knew what had hit them, Hufflepuff was up 40-0. And only a dramatic interception play by James kept the score from becoming 50-0. In an ordinary game, that would have been the turning point. Gryffindor fired eleven shots on the Hufflepuff Keeper before the Badgers managed to get the Quaffle on the Gryffindor side of the Pitch, but Christian turned every single one of them away! To make matters worse, Brittney was not expecting the one shot that she was forced to face, and Hufflepuff lead 50-0 despite being largely outshot.

After the flurry of shots that Christian had turned away, Hufflepuff took the game by storm, inspired to greater heights by their Keeper's heroics. This was what Teddy had warned the rest of the Gryffindors about before the game. If they allowed Christian to get in his zone and make a lot of saves, it was going to rile up the rest of the Hufflepuff Team, and put them firmly in the driver's seat.

The Gryffindors were practically spectators as they were run over by Hufflepuff's newly charged offense. Dwayne Powelly, seemingly unwilling to let his friend hog all the limelight, danced in and out of Gryffindor's players as he repeatedly put the Quaffle in the same place: behind Brittney.

The score was 110-0 before Gryffindor finally came alive again. After a truly remarkable save by Brittney Rothman, James carried the Quaffle down the length of the Pitch, and stuffed the Quaffle by Christian for Gryffindor's first goal of the game. After that, Christian seemed much more mortal as Gryffindor steamed back to 130-70. But they were still very far behind.

Then, out of nowhere, Jeremey dove for the ground, Billy nipping at his heels, the Snitch plummeting to the ground ahead of him. But something happened, maybe it was nerves, maybe he was trying to avoid smashing into the ground, but Jeremey started to pull up a second too early. Seeing the decline in his opponent's acceleration, Billy put on the afterburners and continued his dive for just an extra three feet..but that was enough. As Jeremey collapsed to the ground, which was only another ten feet at that point anyway, in disgust, Billy Hewitt rose higher and higher into the air, the Snitch clutched triumphantly in his fist!

After the game, all the Gryffindor players had been upset over the loss, except for two. James Potter and Jeremey Hall were not upset over the loss, they were distraught…devastated even. They had been given the chance to ensure that Gryffindor made it to the Quidditch Cup Finals, and they had blown it!

Jeremey felt the worst of all. He could have salvaged the game for Gryffindor at the last second, but his brief half-second hesitation had cost them the game. He had choked, plain and simple, and as a result the team had lost.

As they sat there in the locker room, James stared at the ground, visibly crushed, and if one looked closely at Jeremey they could see the line of a solitary tear winding its way down his sweat and grime covered cheek.

Most people would feel sorry for the two boys, clearly so choked up over a big loss. After all, the two were only 11 years old, and they looked even younger than that because they were both so small for their age. Only Teddy Lupin, would think to yell at two such pathetic figures rather than comfort them…or at least leave them be.

"Quit your whining!" Teddy barked the moment he saw the pair of them, sitting in their little corner of the locker room, away from the other players, where they had been situated since the start of the season. This wasn't because they didn't want to sit with the rest of the team, but because they hadn't felt like they were welcomed amongst the older players.

"It's just a loss, get over it! The world's not coming to an end! And another thing, why do you two always sit by yourself over here? You think you're better than the rest of us? I swear to god if you two don't shape up and stop crying like a bunch of girls then you're _off the team!_" And without another word, he stormed from the locker room.

Teddy wasn't trying to be cruel, he was trying to light a fire under the two youngsters. He knew that there would still probably be another game, this one for the Quidditch Cup, and that the two were going to need to get past the disappointment of this loss so that they could play their best then. But to the two kids, it sounded like they were being scolded for something.

James and Jeremey had elected not to return to Gryffindor Common Room immediately after the game, so as to spare themselves the agony of having to see the disappointment on the faces of the rest of their Housemates. So they met up with Andrew and Zach and set out to find something to do in the deserted Castle.

While they were on the Third Floor, they stumbled across three other First Years who were feeling rather lost at the moment. Three First Years who they hadn't spoken to in months: Paul O'Reilly, Nick Aten, and Jason Malloy.

"Hey, why aren't you guys up in your Common Room?" Andrew asked. To which Nick immediately replied "Ah, there's nothing to do there. All the older kids think they're so much better than us, and I really just don't feel like dealing with that right now."

James nodded understandingly. In a lot of ways, he was feeling similarly at the moment, especially after what Teddy had said to him. Words that had still left him feeling hurt and confused as though he had been struck with a blow.

"You know what." James said finally, "Let's all get together next weekend. All us First Years, bring your sister too Jason. And Christian and Dwayne and all of them. We'll just hang out, the way that we used to earlier in the Term."

The others agreed to the idea, and they all planned to meet up the next weekend, but both James and Jeremey went to bed that night thinking the exact same thing.

_Should I tell Erin that I sent her the roses?_


	20. Chapter 20: Day on the Lake

Chapter Twenty: Day on the Lake

The next week passed mostly as a blur for James who spent most of each and every day daydreaming about how he was going to tell Erin how he felt about her, and then she'd tell him that she felt the same way and…and then what? Would they kiss?

No! James decided, there was no reason to go so fast with things. They probably wouldn't kiss until they'd been together for years. You didn't kiss someone unless you were sure that you really loved them, everyone knew that!

Though James didn't know it, Jeremey was having similar thoughts throughout the week, however unlike James Jeremey was not quite so sure of himself. It had taken him some time to finally bring himself to actually send her that rose, and once he had he had grappled over what he was going to write on the card for even longer.

The problem was, Jeremey didn't have the self confidence that James did when it came to girls. In everything else, he was the most overconfident person in the world, but in this one regard he had no faith in himself. That was probably because he was only 12, and didn't really know how to express himself correctly, but it was still very confusing for him.

So when the day finally came, both boys were unusually nervous, which Andrew and Zach found as odd seeing as all that they were doing was hanging out near the Lake with some friends. They simply could not piece together why the two were so jumpy and nervous that morning. "Did you forget to do your Potions Essay or something?" Andrew had asked helpfully.

"No I didn't…oh crap I did forget to do my Potions Essay." James realized, even though that was far from what had really been making him nervous. Still, Andrew didn't need to know that.

"You'll have plenty of time to finish it tomorrow." Andrew said reassuringly, and James tried to look relieved.

In all, a lot more of them wound up going than James had originally expected. Still, over the course of the year a lot of them had started to branch out and make new friends, so there were quite a few more of them there than the original group that had been on the Hogwarts Express. Of course there was James, Jeremey, Andrew, Zach, Nick, Jason, Paul, Erin, Christian, Dwayne and Jocelyn. But there were also a number of other students whom James had either never met, or never bothered to get to know.

Among these was Elizabeth Robinson, a pimply red-headed girl who didn't talk very much, and was apparently in Gryffindor House. Also present was Kiera Porter, a Ravenclaw girl whose brown hair was almost bigger than the rest of her body. Then there was Millie Carodine, a quiet and withdrawn Hufflepuff girl with long flowing black hair. A fair bit more than James had originally been thinking of, but in the end he decided that it would just make the whole experience more enjoyable.

From the very beginning, James set out trying to do everything that he could to get Erin's attention, to get her to talk, to get her to laugh, to get her to smile. The only problem was, he didn't think that she noticed. He paid her compliments every time that he opened his mouth to speak to her, he told funny jokes that made her laugh, but she gave not even the slightest indication that she was paying any mind to what James was doing…or indeed that she even knew what James was doing to begin with!

As James was beginning to grow frustrated, he noticed something…it was Jeremey. His gaze was never leaving Erin, and he was doing a lot of the same things James had been doing. He was complimenting her, and trying his best to be funny. And then James realized that Jeremey was still after Erin too…of course he was, that was what they had decided. But his plan was going to have to be a lot better now if he was going to win Erin over.

Jeremey seemed to know that James and he were going at it as well, for he met his best-friends eye for half a moment, and nodded as though admitting to what he was doing. It was just going to come down to who was able to get her attention for longer. And both boys were trying their hardest. The problem was, neither of them knew what kinds of things girls were interested in, so they figured they'd just talk about things that _they_ were interested in.

Sadly, conversations about Quidditch, sneaking around the Castle after-dark, and getting Detention every other day for disrupting classes did not seem to be something that appealed to Erin very much. In fact, it would seem that she thought James and Jeremey's disruptive behavior in class as 'rude' and 'disrespectful', if one could imagine.

Neither boy was having any success, and in the end they both decided to just give up on it and come up with a better plan later. In the meantime, they were not going to waste a beautiful spring day chasing after some girl who clearly had no idea that they were even interested (give them a few years, then maybe they'd be willing to).

So instead, Jeremey turned and started talking to Christian, congratulating him on his stellar play in the last Quidditch Game, as both boys played an individualist role for their teams, they found that the way in which they prepared and played to be very similar.

"It's like…it's just me out there you know what I mean." Christian said, "It's all on me. No one is going to help me make saves, I gotta do it all on my own."

"I know exactly what you're saying!" Jeremey had remarked excitedly, "It's the same way for me! I'm the only one who's gonna catch the Snitch, and they expect it every game…"

While this conversation was going on, James picked up a conversation with Dwayne, and the two Chasers began discussing Offensive Tactics.

"I'm not really the biggest fan of the backwards-pass." James said, "I feel like you're just giving up ground that you'd battled so hard to get in the first place."

"You're missing the point though." Dwayne argued, "It helps you regroup, get your teammates back with you so that you have options other than just blindly shooting…"

The large group quickly broke into a number of small conversations, many of which occasionally interlocked with each other, causing two groups to come together for a time, before splitting apart again. As a result, people were talking to people next to them, across from them, they were shouting across the way at them, and it would have been very confusing for someone outside of the group to try and understand what on earth was going on.

James for one, had probably talked to everyone in the circle at least once, in conversations varying from Quidditch, to Teachers, to Classwork, to even something about politics…a conversation that James had only been a part of very briefly before giving up his rather weak attempts to understand what had been going on.

"So, you guys gonna beat Slytherin for us?" James asked Jason and the other Ravenclaws, referring to the fact that a Ravenclaw win would clinch Gryffindor's spot in the Finals, while a Slytherin Win would mean a tie-breaker.

"I dunno, depends on whether or not we feel like pitting our friends up against each other in the Finals." Jason said coolly, causing Nick to immediately retort, "Well when you put it that way then hell yes we're gonna kick Slytherin's butt into next year!" When the others looked at him curiously, he admitted "I wanna see who would walk off that Pitch alive. My money's on Jeremey and Dwayne dead, but Christian and James would live long enough to call a truce."

Everyone found this very funny, except for James, who was still thinking about how they had been absolutely shut down by Christian in their last game. If only he could get inside his friend's head and figure out how he thought then maybe he'd be able to beat Christian in a game situation, but unfortunately, he had no way of finding out how it was that Christian was so good at anticipating his every move, along with those of everyone else of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team…and indeed in all of Hogwarts. For no matter who Hufflepuff had played so far that year, they had always rode to victory on the shoulders of Christian's spectacular goaltending…with the exception of the loss to Slytherin which, admittedly, was in a game that they had been leading 120-30 before the Snitch was caught.

Eventually, James managed to draw himself out of his mental world and back into the present, where he didn't have to worry about Quidditch or how on earth he was going to score goals for his team, or whether or not it was even possible to beat Christian Kennedy when he was in the zone. Right now, all he had to worry about was whether or not having this much fun with your friends should be considered illegal, and even if it was he wouldn't have cared anyway so it wasn't like it made all that much of a difference anyway.

As the sun set over the horizon, the First Years exchanged their goodbyes and returned to the Castle, all of them pleasantly humming to themselves after a day which they probably would not have been able to enjoy even if they had tried. For a brief moment, James had thought that he'd seen a student start to walk towards them, but when the Green-Hooded figure quickly turned away from them and towards another group of Slytherin students, James realized that he must have just been imagining it.

That night, as James lay in his four-poster bed, he thought about the things that he remembered hearing from his father about the Battle of Hogwarts. There had been another article in the Daily Prophet about the MHM, and James was trying to remember if his father had even mentioned any kind of powerful magical object that had been present on that date. But if there was, surely he would have mentioned it to James at Christmas. Or if not to James, then at least to someone, but they had been sure that the Staff were just as baffled about what this object might be as they were.

James racked his brains for anything, anyone that might be helpful to them in their search. There weren't that many people still at Hogwarts that could claim to have been at the Battle of Hogwarts. James knew that besides the ghosts, Professor McGonagall, Professor Slughorn, Professor Longbottom, and Hagrid had all been there that day. Other than them, he was not under the impression that any of the other teachers had been present, although they all must have some memories of Voldemort's brief time in power.

James immediately ruled out Slughorn, as the old man would surely have bragged about it if he had even the slightest inkling as to what that artifact could be. Professor McGonagall was unlikely to tell James even if she did have any information regarding to the subject, so James decided not to even bother trying his luck with her. That left only Professor Longbottom, and Hagrid.

James weighed the two in his mind. Of the pair, Neville was the more likely to have information because, according to his father, Neville had been the ringleader of a large faction of the defense force of Hogwarts, and had seen most of the Battleground at one point or another. However, James also knew that if Hagrid knew _anything_, even the slightest bit of information, that he would have no reservations about sharing it with James. Yes, that it what he would do. He would ask Hagrid what he knew.

Happy that he had finally made a decision, James pounded his pillow into shape and rolled onto his side, resolving to ask Hagrid the next time he saw him for tea…


	21. Chapter 21: Out of Our Hands

Chapter Twenty-One: Out of Our Hands

The day had finally come, April 27th. Today it would be decided whether Gryffindor would go to the Quidditch Cup Finals against Hufflepuff, or if they would have to play Slytherin for that honor. And there was nothing that the Gryffindor Team could do to change or impact the result. It was out of their hands now, and it would come down to a Matchup between Ravenclaw and Slytherin.

Though he didn't say it to anyone, it was also James Potter's 12th Birthday, and he was hoping that his friends in Ravenclaw would give him a nice present by beating Slytherin and sending Gryffindor straight to the Finals against Hufflepuff.

Though James didn't say it to anyone, his Dorm-Mates knew him far too well to forget that it was his birthday, and they were going to make sure it was a memorable one regardless of what happened on the Quidditch Pitch that day. Of course, there were plenty of other adjectives that James could think of to describe being awoken by having a large bucket of ice cold water dumped over his head, which the others had thought would be the best way to wake him up.

Once they'd dried him off though, the morning got considerably better, as Jeremey Andrew and Zach had chipped in to get a set of four small gold bracelets. James was not big on jewelry, but he knew that he was going to wear this one. In fancy lettering, it read:

_**Gryffindor Class of 2023**_

_**James Potter**_

Each of the bracelets contained a small glyph: James' represented courage, Jeremey's was loyalty, Andrew's was trust, and Zach's was friendship. When the four bracelets came together, the Glyphs would melt away and converge to form a Gryffindor Lion. It was so corny, but at the same time it was the best gift that James had ever received.

"I think we may have just started a new school tradition." James said, waving his arm in the air, causing the bracelet to shake around in the light.

"Nah, don't go telling people." Jeremey said, "This way it's unique, we're unique. It's something just for us, and not for anyone else."

James understood what he meant, it was doubtful that any other group of Dorm-Mates in Hogwarts' long history had ever been as close as those four were. They were inseparable, and each of the boys was as a brother to the other three. Now, because of the bracelets, they would always be a part of each other. No matter what happened.

* * *

The Slytherin Players in the Great Hall were just as nervous as the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff Players had been the month before, for them this game was their last chance to stay alive. The Ravenclaws, on the other hand, were calm and collected, and they were laughing with the rest of their Housemates.

Unlike the others, this game was all but meaningless to Ravenclaw House, which had no chance of winning the Quidditch Cup anymore. Their only incentive to do well would be to ensure that Slytherin did not win. In James' mind that was a worthy goal to pursue, but would the Ravenclaw Players think so?

James trudged to the stands with the rest of Gryffindor House, keeping his fingers crossed that Ravenclaw's newly revamped (again) roster was able to work some magic against the Slytherin Team, and pull out a win.

Either way, they would find out soon enough, as the Quaffle was released to start the game. Three-Quarters of the crowd was fully engrossed in the game, only the Hufflepuffs did not have anything vested in this game. The Hufflepuffs knew that it would be no easier going against Gryffindor than Slytherin, or vice-versa. Their ideal scenario was a Slytherin victory, which would force a tie-breaker between Gryffindor and Slytherin. As it was sure to be a brutal game, the winning team might be so battered that it would not be able to put up much of a fight against Hufflepuff.

However, very few of the Hufflepuff supporters subscribed to this line of thought, and so the sections of the crowd wearing yellow followed the game with a respectful interest that was far below that of the remaining three-quarters of the crowd.

Though the win would not help them advance any further, the Ravenclaw faithful still wanted to see their team pull off a win, which they had not been able to do so far that year. And if James knew anything about Jason, he knew that the boy would not sit idly by as Ravenclaw coasted to its first victory-less season in over a century.

James' assumptions proved to be correct, as Jason turned into an absolute monster early on, knocking Slytherin Seeker Remington Parker off his broom twice in the opening minutes with two well-placed Bludgers. This success lead to a grand round of applause from the supporters in Blue and Red, both because he had winded the opposing Seeker, and because most people just did not like Remington's nasty violent ways.

The game was much slower than most of those that James had either witnessed or taken part in, the Beaters of both sides relentlessly pounding the opposition until offense had slowed to a trickle. After the Match had been going on for nearly an hour, the score was only 30-40.

While James followed the Match, he trusted Jeremey to keep him updated on the movements of the Seekers, and the Snitch. In fact, so well trained was Jeremey's Seeker Eye that no fewer than three times he pointed out the Snitch when neither Seeker had noticed it.

Finally though, Remington Parker caught sight of the Snitch near ground level. He turned to chase it, but Justin Shindler was already two broom lengths ahead of him. Despite Remington's desperate attempts to coax more speed out of his broom it was no use…Justin simply had too much of a lead to be overcame. Justin pulled out of a dive with the Snitch caught between his fingers, and it was over, Ravenclaw had won!

200-40 was the final score, and Paul and Jason's exceptional work as Beaters had been a big part in Ravenclaw's victory against Slytherin. It took James some time after the Game had ended to remember why he had been so obsessed with the Match's outcome. At first, he had been too busy singing his friends' praises, but once he had stopped, he realized what the Ravenclaw win had meant.

"Oh my god!" James exclaimed, "Jer! We're going to the Finals!" he yelled, high-fiving his friend as they descended from the standings.

"We've gotta throw those guys a party." Jeremey said as they left the Pitch, "A real one, those Ravenclaws don't know how to throw a good Party, only us Gryffindors know what a real Party looks like!"

James was, of course, in agreement as everyone knew that Gryffindors threw the best Parties, but such a thing was unheard of. Where were they going to do it?

Finally, they decided to let the guys enjoy their Ravenclaw-Party, and whatever fun that might have been, and then they'd have a proper celebration the next morning on the grounds.

* * *

"What'd you guys do, have group study time?" Andrew asked when Jason, Nick, and Paul arrived at their meeting place the next morning, wearing the telltale signs of someone who had been up all night partying.

"No, better." Paul said sarcastically, "We reviewed each other's Potions Essays, and then to be _really_ crazy we decided to have an entire night without any reading at all!" Whistling as though he could not believe that they had actually gone through with such an insane plan, he added "It was hardcore man, hardcore!"

Since it would have been rather pointless to throw another full party the next day, they had decided instead to just have a get together, toast Gryffindor and Hufflepuff's chances in the Finals, and just talk. They were a much smaller bunch, just the Quidditch Players: James, Jeremey, Jason, Nick, Paul, Christian, and Dwayne. And, of course, Jeremey and James had insisted that Andrew and Zach come along anyway, because it just wouldn't have felt right without the other half of their Dorm there.

They had, naturally, talked about the one thing that was on everyone's mind that day: the upcoming Quidditch Cup Final that was to be played between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff.

"I'm sorry James, but you guys are gonna get thrashed again. Christian's just too good between the hoops, and I hate to say it Jer, but Billy just totally upstages you." Jason said, brutally honest with his opinions as usual.

"There's no way in hell I'm losing to the same guy twice!" Jeremey replied, shaking his head in disgust. "I made a fundamental mistake, I hesitated, and that's not going to happen again."

"I've gotta side with Jeremey on this one," Paul interrupted, "I just don't see how they're gonna let the same thing happen again.

"Let?" Nick said, laughing as though Paul had just said something extremely childish, "It's not a matter of what they're going to 'let' happen, it's a matter of how badly they're gonna get wrecked!"

"Is any of this really necessary?" Christian asked, growing red-faced at all of the conversation concerning him. For someone who had emerged as such a star on the Quidditch Pitch, Christian was very reluctant to have attention lavished over him…it made him very uncomfortable.

Ignoring him, Jason agreed with Nick saying "He's right. Look at it this way, no one at Hogwarts is in the same league as the Nash brothers; and Jay and Alex are not very good Beaters by any standard. So Hufflepuffs got far better Beaters. Christian wipes the floor with Brittney any day of the week, so they're better in goal too. Up front, I'd say Paige and Dwayne are both better than anyone Gryffindor can field, and Lindsay's up there too. So Offensively Hufflepuff wins out. And in terms of Seekers, it's a close one, but Jeremey you just don't have Billy's experience. So Hufflepuff's got better players at every position!"

Of course, this had lead to a fair bit of arguing from James and Jeremey about how their players were far better than those of the Hufflepuff Team, tactfully not mentioning Dwayne and Christian, both of whom were present.

"Alright, so they've got Dwayne and Christian, so what?" James said, "That's two good players, we've got seven! And I think you're seriously overrating some of their guys. Like Paige, she couldn't catch the Quaffle if it had a handle on it. And I think Billy just got lucky last game, he's not beating my boy Jeremey next time!"

Jeremey had chosen this moment to cut in and say "Plus, our Chasers are good enough to stay away from any Bludgers that the Nash's hit at them. Doesn't matter how hard they're hitting the things if you can't hit anybody.

"Aw, that's a load of rubbish!" Dwayne argued, "I've seen your Chasers practice, and other than James they're not that good. I'm not ripping on Teddy or anything, but he'd just not as good as you guys give him credit for being.

* * *

And so it went back and forth for some time, with the boys good naturedly teasing each other's abilities once they got tired of discussing the Match itself. James in particular had been the butt of a large number of the jokes, which may have been in part due to the fact that some of them were coming from his own Teammate.

"You're only supposed to rip on them!" James had protested, too busy laughing to really care all that much. "Not me." To which Andrew had shrugged and replied "But you're a lot more fun to have a go at."

"Yea, but I know where you sleep Andrew," James retorted, "and if you keep this up you're not going to be sleeping all that well tonight. At least, it would be in your best interests not to." James' hollow threat had lead to a fresh round of laughter before Christian found a remark that would suit the situation.

By the end of the night, even James was fresh out of jokes, and the boys had managed to go through at least two dozen bottles of butterbeer between the nine of them, an accomplishment which Zach said that they should all be proud of.

However, for James, the most interesting thing to happen that day, came at around nine o' clock that night. Upon returning to the Boy's Dormitory, he had found that Stella had left him a letter while he had been out all day. Hastily scrawled on the parchment was:

_**James,**_

_**I haven't seen you in over a month now, why don't you come down for tea next Saturday? We can catch up, and there was something that I've been meaning to tell you.**_

_**Hagrid**_

Folding the letter in half and tossing it back into the indiscernible disaster area on top of his dresser, James rolled over under his sheets and wondered what it was Hagrid so needed to tell him. Maybe it was something about the MHM! Even if not, he could always ask Hagrid about the Battle of Hogwarts while he was there, see if he could get any clues about what it was that they were looking for.


	22. Chapter 22: Legends Lost

Chapter Twenty-Two: Legends Lost

The next morning James had told the others about his plan to ask Hagrid what he knew about the Battle of Hogwarts, a plan which they all supported but doubted that it would lead anywhere. Andrew had suggested that James ask Teddy if he knew anything about the subject, but unfortunately Teddy had been really distant lately.

"Hey Teddy, I wanted to ask you something." James said, approaching Teddy who had been sitting in the library pouring over a large intricately-bound leather book which looked as though it hadn't been opened in centuries, and smelt musty and damp.

"Not now James!" Teddy had replied impatiently, ink splattering across parchment as Teddy copied notes and facts from the book. "I've got my N.E.W.T.s coming up and I need to pass them all!" Teddy had then returned immediately to his book, and James had decided better than to keep bothering him. Clearly, Teddy had more important things on his mind than James.

It wasn't that Teddy was ignoring James, or didn't want to be around him. But Teddy had a lot on his plate as a N.E.W.T. Student who was considering a number of very difficult career paths. But, to James, it seemed as though Teddy didn't have the time or patience to deal with him anymore.

James reported his lack of success back to the others, who were disappointed, but not altogether surprised by Teddy's lack of interest.

"Well of course he'd be focusing on his N.E.W.T.s" Zach shouted indignantly, "Do you have any idea how important those Exams are? They practically determine your entire future?"

But none of the others shared Zach's interest for those 'super important' tests, which they wouldn't have to take for six years anyway. When you're only eleven or twelve years old, six years seems like an eternity! Six years is half of your life so-far, and it's pretty much all of your life that you can really remember.

There was nothing for it but to wait and see what Hagrid was going to say when they went to talk to him about it, which was still not for another five days. Nothing, not even Transfiguration, held much interest for James that week, as he sailed by on cruise control, waiting for the weekend to finally come.

When at last it did, they boys began to go over how they were going to approach asking Hagrid about the Battle of Hogwarts, a subject that would probably not be very high on his list of favorite conversation topics.

"You've got to ask him James." Andrew had insisted, "He knows you a lot better than he knows any of us, so he'll be more willing to talk to you about it. Honestly, I still don't even think we should come; he might not want to tell _all_ of us about what happened."

But in the end, Jeremey and Zach refused to be left behind, so Andrew gave up and agreed to come along as well. "I just hope that I don't leave that hut saying 'I told you so.'" Andrew muttered to himself as the skies outside opened up, and rain began thundering down from the clouds.

Glancing out the window, Zach asked half-interestedly, "You think that's a bad sign?"

* * *

Thankfully, the rain subsided early Saturday morning, as James did not fancy the idea of walking to Hagrid's Hut in the pouring rain. However, the sky was still a menacing gray, and there was still the chance of the rain starting up again before they returned to the Castle.

Hagrid was waiting outside for them, watering what looked like gigantic turnips, but James remembered were actually something completely different. He had not been paying attention when Professor Longbottom had explained what they were, but supposedly they contained powerful healing properties.

"Yeh came!" Hagrid said gruffly, his bearded face breaking out into a grin when he saw James and the others approaching. "I wasn't sure if yeh'd gotten my letter, you never wrote back."

Andrew sighed, Zach's hand shot up to his forehead again, and Jeremey just laughed while James looked at the ground, ashamed at his forgetfulness.

"Nice one slick." Andrew said, patting his friend on the back. "Did you forget your shoes too?"

Like the older and more mature twelve year old that he was, James stuck out his tongue at Andrew and didn't answer. Although once his friend had turned away, just to be sure, he had glanced down to double-check. Yup, his shoes were there…why had he even bothered to check them in the first place?

The most important thing to remember when one was having tea with the Hogwarts Gamekeeper was that drinks were good, food was not good. If you could find a way to avoid eating anything homemade that Hagrid tried to force upon you, then you would be fine. If, however, you were caught in a situation where refusing wasn't a possibility, then you were in a bad spot.

Fortunately, today Hagrid did not seem to have prepared any of his infamously horrid cakes, something for which James was silently grateful, as if he had James would have been forced to try and stomach some to make Hagrid happy. And today of all days, they _really_ needed Hagrid to be happy.

"So, how're things James? I haven't seen yeh in so long…I don't even remember the last time you brought these lot down." He said, gesturing to his Dorm-Mates, all of whom stiffened slightly. "Lemme see if I can remember." Hagrid said, staring intently at the trio before saying uncertainly "Anthony, Zach, and Jeremey?" as he pointed to Andrew, Jeremey, and Zach respectively.

"Andrew," he corrected, looking as though he didn't really want to correct Hagrid for fear of what the Half-Giant would do to him, something that James found immensely amusing. It was only even funnier when, in a similarly uncertain voice, Jeremey added "And I'm Jeremey, that's Zach."

Hagrid hung his head and said "Ah well, I was close wasn't I? Maybe if you lot came down with James more often I'd remember your names better."

James chuckled as his friend's faces paled dramatically at the prospect of spending more time in the company of Hagrid who, they still thought, was dangerous because of his immense size. James had been trying without much success to convince them that Hagrid was totally harmless, and would never hurt a fly, but they remained largely unconvinced.

Hoping to get right to the point, James asked eagerly, "So Hagrid, you said that you had something to tell me." Leaning forward he added "Something important?" Behind him, the other three were leaning forward in anticipation as well, albeit much more reservedly than James was.

"Ah yea, that." Hagrid said, taking a sip of his tea, tea which James noticed none of his friends had touched. They were probably afraid Hagrid had poisoned it or something. Ha! The very idea of Hagrid trying to harm anyone was laughable.

" Well, what is this I hear about you lot being in the Forbidden Forest a few months ago?" he asked accusingly, reminding James that he had frequently promised his parents that he would never set foot near that place. Conveniently, in his frequent letters to home, he had skirted over that particular adventure.

"Oh," James said, caught off guard by this before asking quickly, "Wait, how on earth do you know about that?" They hadn't told anyone, well anyone who would tell a teacher, about that night; so how had Hagrid found out.

With a booming laugh that seemed to shake the foundations of the small hut, Hagrid replied "You're not the only one who has spoken to the Centaurs lately. They often pop by to say hello while I'm in the Forest, and last week they told me about your little adventure."

Looking seriously at them, Hagrid said "Now wandering around the Forest can be a fun diversion and all James, but I would advise against it for the time being. There are dangerous forces at work in the Forest, and not all of the creatures are as friendly as the Centaurs…and for that matter, not all Centaurs are that tolerant of humans."

James was taken aback; he had been expecting a lecture about how wandering around in the Forest was against the rules, and that he shouldn't be in there to begin with. Behind him, the others were murmuring to each other, and James could tell that they were thinking the same thing.

Hagrid noticed their reactions almost immediately, and told them "I'm not gonna bother telling you that going in the Forest is against the rules, I'm gonna save my breath for a worthwhile pursuit. I know you too well James, and no amount of persuasion on my part is gonna keep you from stirring up trouble. Just make sure that it doesn't get you killed.

James took a deep breath before saying "Hagrid. While we were in the Forest, the Centaurs warned us about something in there, and the MHM has been saying for months that they're after some sort of magical object that was at the Battle of Hogwarts. And, well, you were there…did you see anything, or did dad mention anything that it could be."

Hagrid closed his eyes, sighing, and said "Why oh why can you kids never leave well enough alone?" he asked, shaking his head in frustration. Finally, sometime late, he spoke again, sounding older than James had ever heard him.

"Your father never mentioned any kind of magical object that helped him in the Battle of Hogwarts. There was always the Sword of Godric Gryffindor, but that's not in the Forest it's in the Headmistress' Office, so it's not exactly 'lost' is it?"

Hagrid seemed at a loss before adding, almost as an afterthought, "Well actually, there was one thing…he only spoke of it once but…"

James and the others leaned forward, was this the moment that they had been waiting for?

"He was talking to yer Aunt and Uncle, and he said something about a Wand, a Cloak, and a Stone." Hagrid said, struggling to remember that long ago event. "The Wand's not lost, and neither is the Cloak, but he said he lost the Stone somewhere in the Forest…"

Hagrid's face paled, as though he was realizing something that James and the others did not understand, could not understand. It was some great realization eighteen years in the making, something that had been picked at every so often for the last two decades, but only now was finally being fully revealed and understood.

"Oh my god!" Hagrid said, staring right past James and into the Forest beyond, "My dear god, it cannot be! It cannot be!"

"Hagrid," James said uncertainly, almost afraid to disrupt Hagrid in his shock…and maybe even fear. However, the Games Keeper did not hear him and simply remained where he stood, staring out the window at the Forest.

"I need to speak to your father!" Hagrid finally exclaimed, jumping up out of his seat and heading for the door "Immediately, this cannot wait! I'm sorry James, but you're going to have to see yourself out!"

And without another word, Hagrid vanished out the door of his Hut and left them there, staring dumbly at each other in shocked silence.

"What just happened?" Jeremey asked, dumbfounded by the sudden turn of events.

James was no more certain as to what had just occurred, and just shook his head saying "I don't know, but it looks like Hagrid does. I guess once he tells my father what's going on they'll take care of it. There's really nothing that we can do at this point.

* * *

The next morning, Hagrid was not at breakfast, nor was he there the next day, or the day after that. Soon, two weeks had gone by, and Hagrid had still not re-appeared. Finally, concerned for the Half-Giants safety, James had written to his father, asking if Hagrid was still there. The brief and casual response to his inquiry that he got back, buried in the midst of his father's long reply chilled him to his very core:

_**I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about as I haven't spoken to Hagrid since your Term started back in January. Are you sure he's not at the Castle?**_

James was immediately convinced that something terrible had befallen Hagrid, a sentiment that no one else seemed to share. "I'm sure he's fine James." Andrew said, "Big strong bloke like that, he can take care of himself right enough."

However a few days later, The Daily Prophet confirmed his fears, blaring from the front page was the Headline: Hogwarts Professor Missing!


	23. Chapter 23: Just a Game Amongst Friends

Chapter Twenty-Three: Just a Game Amongst Friends

Hagrid's disappearance had shocked James, who was certain that something had happened. In James' mind, Hagrid had not merely gone missing, but he had clearly been abducted by agents of the MHM who didn't want James' father to find out whatever it was that Hagrid had discovered. Once again though, James was the only one who believed this.

"You're being ridiculous James." Jeremey said, "I mean, seriously? Get real, there's no way that he's been kidnapped. If you ask me these MHM people are just a load of talk. I mean, they've never actually done anything have they?"

Everyone seemed to be thinking along similar lines, and only James was even considering the possibility that there may in fact be something more serious going on. Some days, James was starting to believe that they were right, but most days he was still certain that Hagrid had been taken hostage.

However, by the end of the week, Hagrid had faded to an afterthought to the students at Hogwarts, as something far more important was coming up: the Quidditch Cup! Gryffindor and Hufflepuff were set to square off, and everyone was anticipating a hotly contested matchup between the two Houses.

Ironically, those things that had been looked at as weaknesses for both teams at the start of the year were now their strong points. Hufflepuff was fielding the best Keeper Hogwarts had seen since the days of Oliver Wood, and their Beaters were absolute tanks! Not to mention they had the consensus better Seeker, and an Offense that was not only dynamic and creative like the Gryffindor Team, but also worked exceptionally well together.

The Gryffindor Team, on the other hand, was fielding what seemed to be on paper the inferior team. James Potter was the only Chaser who could measure up to those Hufflepuff was fielding, and Jeremey Hall had proven before that he could not perform in the clutch. The general agreement around the School was that if Gryffindor were to win they would need three things to happen above all else: the Potter mystique, a much improved performance from Jeremey Hall, and they needed to break Christian Kennedy's armor early. If they let Christian get a long string of saves going, it was going to get real ugly real fast.

If James had been nervous before their first game against Hufflepuff, that was nothing compared to how he felt now. He felt tense, nervous, and jittery, and he had no idea how he was going to calm himself down enough to actually play in the upcoming game. Jeremey, from what he had heard, was going out of his mind with nerves. The boy had refused to show his face in the Great Hall, and had apparently been waiting for the rest of them in the locker room since around the time that James arrived at the Gryffindor Table.

Once again, he could not bring himself to eat anything that morning, and shuffled off to the locker room feeling nervous and jumpy, not to mention extremely hungry. But for some reason, every time he looked at any kind of food that morning it immediately made him sick to his stomach.

When he arrived in the locker room the place was deserted, but Jeremey's clothes were in his stall and his uniform was gone, so he had definitely been there.

Just when James had been about to leave and go looking for him, he heard the sound of a flushing toilet coming from the bathroom, and Jeremey stumbled out: pale as a ghost and wiping his forehead with a towel.

"What's wrong with you?" James asked, staring at his best-friend in alarm. "You look terrible!"

Jeremey groaned and collapsed on the bench in front of his locker-stall and said "Urgh, I just puked!"

James grimaced and said "What are you sick or something?"

Jeremey shook his head, "Nope, not sick. Just scared shitless." Jeremey remained lying on the bench and stared up at the ceiling muttering "I've never been this freaked in my life."

"Yea, me either." James said, sitting in front of his own locker and pulling off his shirt so he could start putting his gear on. "The Great Hall is a mad-house."

"I heard." Jeremey said simply, "And did you hear what they're calling me out there?"

James shook his head, he had heard a couple of comments directed at the Gryffindor Team in general, but nothing leveled at individuals."

"'The Chokendor Seeker', that's what they're calling me" Jeremey said, and James couldn't help but laugh, thinking that the whole thing was rather childish. "Of course, that's nothing on what they're calling _you_!" Jeremey added.

James almost didn't want to know, but at the same time he knew he was going to find out sooner or later, so he had to ask. "Why, what're they calling me?"

Jeremey sighed before saying simply "Pot-Head-Potter"

* * *

One would think that the commentators would try to remain impartial, or at least somewhat objective. But it was clear to James from the start that Andy would love nothing better than to see Hufflepuff win this game. That was understandable; the Ravenclaw House was roughly split down the middle: Slytherin on the other hand had thrown its support behind Hufflepuff; although James thought for half a second that he saw a flash of Scarlet in the sea of yellow where the Slytherins sat.

From the moment that the Gryffindor Team entered the Pitch, Andy let them have it. "And here comes the inferior Chokendor, I mean Gryffindor Roster…"

"As if he wasn't enough so already, Jeremey turned even paler. James knew, that Jeremey knew, that all of the 'Choker' comments were directed at him (Jeremey). However, James felt his own cheeks flare in anger when Andy continued speaking a minute later. "Still, Potter'll make sure that the Gryffindor Team has something to take the edge of the loss won't he?"

James couldn't believe it, were they really calling him a muggle-drug-dealer? That was low, that was really really low! That was a whole new definition of the word low, they were going to rip these guys apart!

But they were not ripping Hufflepuff apart, quite the opposite in fact. Hufflepuff came at them fast and hard, dominating the flow of play. When those few times came that Gryffindor could get a shot on Christian he was flawless. The game was quickly slipping away at 80-10.

By sheer will and determination, the Gryffindors managed to hold on, clawing their way slowly back into a 110-70 game. But they were slowly but surely being outmatched. And the one time that Jeremey had gotten a glimpse of the Snitch he had taken a Bludger to the jaw.

Madam Palumbo had insisted that Jeremey sit the rest of the game out, but after getting his bone magically mended, Jeremey returned to the air, much to the joy of Gryffindor Fans.

The Game was 170-130 in Hufflepuff's favor, and if the teams had traded Keepers, the score probably would have been 270-40, or something like that. Christian was turning away more shots than anyone could count, and they just kept coming at him. But the Hufflepuff Team was taking advantage of Gryffindor's mistakes, and elongating their lead to 210-140.

Then, there was a hush and the crowd fell silent, at the back of the Pitch, Jeremey and Billy racing for the Snitch, no distance between the two, so close they looked like they were touching.

Jeremey was closer, just a little bit, he was going to get there first, James was sure of it! There was a deafening roar from the crowd as the Seeker raised the Snitch in triumph.

* * *

It was Billy, the Hufflepuff Seeker had beaten Jeremey again, and the Hufflepuff Team was racing towards him, falling off their brooms and into the group hug that had formed on the ground of the Pitch. It was over…they had lost. Somehow, unbelievably, they had lost.

James slumped forward on his broom, staring in dumbfounded disbelief as the Yellow-Robed Hufflepuff Team celebrated their victory. Though he tried to look away, he found himself transfixed by the sight of the other team's celebrations, making him realize just how close they had come.

He looked around the Pitch, Teddy was staring with a mixture of sorrow and bemusement written on his face, though for what reason James had no idea. Jeremey had again fallen off his broom, the image of defeat as he lay prone on the grass of the Pitch, staring up at the sky, looking absolutely sick to his stomach.

Then, he looked at the other team, the Hufflepuffs, but not as a Team, as individuals. Dwayne was right in the middle, hugging Billy who still gripped the Snitch tightly. Christian on the other hand, stood alone as he had all year, grinning to himself as he was finally able to revel in the attention thrown his way.

James turned away as Professor McGonagall presented Scott Nash, the Hufflepuff Captain, with the Quidditch Cup, amid the thunderous applause of the Hufflepuff supporters. James did not want to watch, did not want to see Christian and Dwayne with the Cup, celebrating the victory that had so nearly been his.

* * *

The locker room felt more like a morgue, no one spoke, no one looked up, everyone was so focused on the floor between their own two feet. When James was finally able to bring himself to look up his gaze focused immediately upon Jeremey. Rather than the lone tear he had seen the first time they'd lost to Hufflepuff, James saw his friend's face coated in tears, which flowed unhindered from his eyes. Though he tried not to, James knew he had shed a few of his own. He had been relied upon to make a difference, but he hadn't been able to.

Teddy looked like he was going to make a speech, but could not find any words, so instead he just said "Great year fellas, it's been a blast!" and strode from the locker room. There were no words left to say, they had left it all on the Pitch, it just had not been enough.

When James and Jeremey finally left the locker room, the last two to do so, they heard music blaring through the floors from the Hufflepuff Common Room. Exchanging looks of distaste, the two shook their heads and went to Gryffindor Tower.

The Common Room was deserted, no one had felt like sticking around waiting for Jeremey and James to return, no one that was except for Andrew and Zach, who had fallen asleep in front of the fire waiting for their friends to return. The first pair woke the second, who expressed their sympathy for the loss, which had been hardest on them, and they returned to the Dormitory silently.

* * *

The next day, Christian approached James and Jeremey in the Great Hall, trying to talk to them about what had happened. Overjoyed though he was at his House's victory, he knew how hurt his friends had been by the loss, and wanted to make sure that they hadn't taken it personally…they had.

"What do you want traitor!" James snapped the second that Christian had approached the Gryffindor Table.

"Yea, why aren't you off celebrating with your Teammates who you love so much?" Jeremey barked.

Christian was at a loss for words, and stood there beseechingly, hurt written plainly across his features.

"Guys come on, leave him alone." Said Andrew, "It's just a game, it's not the end of the world is it?"

But the pair remained silent, both refusing to look at Christian. Finally, the Hufflepuff boy had had enough and snapped back at them, "Look, I'm sorry that you guys feel so bad about this but seriously get over it! Would you expect me to act like this if you guys had won? Can't you just be happy for me?"

James turned slowly to look at Christian, a quick glance full of anger and resentment, and then turned back to his food. What did Christian know?

Christian shook his head in disgust and began to walk away, "What a bunch of sore losers." He muttered.

That was more than James was willing to take, without stopping to think of what he was doing, of where he was, he drew his wand and whipped around to face Christian. "Why don't you say that to my face?" he snarled.

Christian was no fool, he knew that James was ready to snap, but he didn't care, he was tired of always being put down. Smoothly drawing his own wand he said "Sorry, but I don't talk to trash like you Potter!"

James lost it, without considering what he was about to do, he pointed his wand at Christian and yelled "Petrificus Totalus!"

Christian quickly dove out of the way, and James' Full-Body-Binding Curse sailed past him and exploded against the Ravenclaw Table. With a series of shouts, students began to rush out of the way to avoid being hit by more of the pair's wayward jinxes.

"Rictusempra!" Christian shouted, casting a Tickling Charm at James who was not expecting such a rapid counter-attack and collapsed to the floor in a fit of giggles. As he lay there, he saw a pair of legs stepping over him.

"Everte Statum!" Jeremey shouted, casting the spell over the twitching form of his best-friend, who was laughing uncontrollably on the floor. Christian, who had been so preoccupied with James, did not see this coming and went flying through the air and landed with a thud on the Ravenclaw House Table, glassware shattering beneath him, and plates clattering to the floor.

"Furnunculus!" "Tarantallegra!" "Petrificus Totalus!" "Expelliarmus!" came the shouts on all sides of them as Nick, Jason, and Paul leapt to Christian's defense, while Zach and Andrew came to back up Jeremey and James. Jets of variously colored light shot in all direction, and James felt one hit him in the chest, causing him to be launched backwards against the wall.

"ENOUGH! EXPELLIARMUS!" came the infuriated shout, and all eight dueling students watched as their wands flew out of their hands and clattered to the floor below. Andrew was going after his when the voice shouted again "Mr. Knight! If you take one more step then you will face suspension! Now all of you in my Office…now!"

Professor McGonagall had entered the Great Hall, and she was looking madder than James had ever seen her. The eight of them exchanged menacing glances at each other and followed Professor McGonagall to her Office. An unspoken bitterness and anger hanging in the air. It was unbelievable to consider that just two days before they had all been getting along like the best of friends.

* * *

"I am outraged!" Professor McGonagall shouted, staring at the eight children as though they had just committed murder. As if it were not bad enough that you turned the Great Hall upside down in your fighting, it was all over something as trivial as a Quidditch Game!" She shook her head at them and said "How many times must I impress upon you children that Quidditch is not something to be taken so seriously! I mean really, I'd have thought that your friends would mean more to you than a silly trophy!"

Shaking her head she dismissed them saying "Fifty Point from Ravenclaw, Fifty Points from Hufflepuff, and Seventy-Five Points from Gryffindor! And you will all serve Detention this Thursday in the Forbidden Forest with Professor Ambrose. Professor Ambrose is our Divination Teacher, and you will accompany him as he attempts to divine the future from the Forest's most ancient places. And you will serve this Detention _together, _and so help me god if you haven't resolved this problem then it'll be a thousand points from each of your Houses, and you'll still be in Detention when you're retired! Now get out of my sight!"

James wanted to protest, to say that the whole thing was all Christian's fault and that it wasn't fair that he was being punished too, but from the glaring look that Professor McGonagall was giving them he knew that doing so would be one of the stupidest things that he'd ever done in his entire life. So instead, he just sat there brooding quietly until she dismissed them.

When the boys left Professor McGonagall's Office, Erin and Dwayne were waiting outside for them. "What the heck happened?" Erin asked indignantly, and James flushed. He should have known that Erin would get involved with all of this, now she was upset because of something he had done. Plus, he had jinxed her brother; she would probably hate him after this.

"Unbelievable!" she shouted, staring at all of them with a glare that rivaled Professor McGonagall's, "Do you have any idea what you've done? But of course you don't, you just think that everything is going to be great now don't you? What is wrong with you? Especially you James Potter!" she screeched, causing James' heart to sink into his stomach. He had been right, she did hate him.

"What were you thinking? It was just a stupid game? But no, James Potter doesn't lose to anyone, he doesn't lose anything! So instead of just growing up and taking it like a man, you had to try and jinx Christian, just because he beat you in something for once! You are such an arrogant jerk!"

And with that, Erin turned and strode away, grumbling to herself something about 'boys' 'taking everything too far' 'thinking that they need to duel each other to prove how tough' 'supposed to be friends.'

Dwayne, to his credit, didn't yell, but he did stand there staring at them for a long time before he too turned and walked away, leaving them standing on their own again.

Beginning to realize what he had done, James looked at Christian shamefaced and said "Look Christian, I don't know what came over me I…" But Christian was done listening, he cut James off immediately and said "Whatever James, I don't care anymore."

Christian shook his head and left, refusing to look back at the group that he was leaving behind. A few moments later, the Ravenclaws followed suit.

"Well, we screwed up this time James." Andrew said, "We screwed up really badly." James did not answer at first as he watched the slowly receding heads of the others and murmured "I know…I know."

**Thank you to everyone who has been following and reading this FanFic. Please leave reviews guys, and keep reading, thanks so much for the support!**


	24. Chapter 24: The Darkest Secret

Chapter Twenty-Four: The Darkest Secret

On the night of their Detention, the four Gryffindor boys set out for the Entrance Hall, where they would be meeting Professor Ambrose and the rest of the guys in Detention. James had not spoken to any of his Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff friends since the day of their fight in the Great Hall, the results of which had supposedly taken the school's House Elves days to sort out.

Andrew had tried to talk to Jason one day after Charms Class, but the other boy had acted as though he could not see him, and had just kept walking past him. After that, the Gryffindors gave up their attempts to talk to the others.

So on the night of the Detention, James was not sure whether or not he wanted to try and reconcile his differences with Christian Jason Nick and Paul, or just give up and move on. While he hoped that they would be able to get past what had happened, he knew that most people would not want to be your friend again once you had tried to hex them.

When James and the others arrived in the Entrance Hall, they found that Christian and the Ravenclaws were already in the Entrance Hall, standing behind a cold looking man who James could only assume would have to be Professor Ambrose.

Professor Ambrose was a tall, unpleasant looking fellow, who spoke as though he could not bear their presence and wished that he could take his leave of them that very moment. "My name is Professor Ambrose. Tonight we are going into the Forbidden Forest so that I might collect leaves from a special tree that have excellent use in the reading of the future. It will be your job to strip leaves from the branches, and mash them into a pulp once we have returned to the Castle."

James could not think of a more pointless way to spend Detention, but he reflected that it probably could have been a lot worse, and that he should be grateful. He flashed a small smile in Christian's direction, but the other boy refused to look at him. James' smile slid from his face like rain on a windowsill, and he glumly followed Professor Ambrose out of the Castle.

"Have you apologized to Christian yet?" Andrew asked him in a whisper, glancing anxiously up at Professor Ambrose, who seemed to radiate control and made all of the First Years want to be as far away from him as possible.

"No, I haven't gotten the chance." James hissed back, "And I don't think I'm going to get one. He refuses to even look at me! Not that I blame him." He really could not blame the Hufflepuff boy for not wanting to have anything to do with him; the duel had been rather vicious.

The rather large group entered the Forest before too long, and the thick trees immediately blocked out the small amount of light that the moon and stars had been providing. "If you will all light your wands, it will be much easier for us to continue. Lumos!"

His command was echoed all around, as eight more wand-tips light up, forming a half circle around the first one which stood out like a lone beacon away from the rest of them.

James took advantage of this momentary distraction to go talk to Jason, the boy whom he thought that he would have the easiest time trying to get to talk to him. "Hey Jason, don't ignore me alright, I want to apologize." James whispered.

Jason stared back at him with wide eyes and asked "James Potter wants to apologize? I never thought I'd live to see the day."

James was not in the mood for humor at the moment and said "Look Jason I'm sorry, what I did was stupid alright, beyond stupid. What is everyone saying, how ticked are they?" James needed to know how everyone was feeling about what had happened before he tried asking for forgiveness.

Jason thought for a moment, biting his lip before saying "Well, Christian's kinda feeling bad about the whole thing too. I think he feels like it's kinda his fault too for trying to get under your skin, you know what I mean? Nick's just Nick, he'll never tell anyone anything that he's thinking will he? Personally I reckon that he's just waiting for you to come clean and own up to what you did. But Paul is pissed off man!" Shaking his head he added in a hushed tone "You've got your work cut out for you if you want him to forgive you, cause he's ready to kill you at the moment."

James nodded, it wasn't much different than what he had expected; although to be honest he had expected Christian to be angrier with him than Jason said he was. As it turned out, both James and Christian thought that they had started the fight, and as a result both felt horribly about what had happened and just wanted to get past it. After all, friends fought sometimes. The problem being, when those friends were Wizards, those fights consisted of spells and curses rather than words and maybe a punch or two. Had they been more experienced at the time, Jeremey and James would probably have began jinxing each other when they had fought in November of that year.

* * *

"This tree that you see before you," Professor Ambrose explained, "is known as the Faxirnal Tree. From its leaves, one can create a paste which is invaluable in the process of fortune telling. You will collect enough leaves to fill these bags." He said, indicating four large cloth sacks at the foot of the tree. "Now begin!"

James deliberately followed Christian when he went to the far side of the tree, he wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. "Christian, look don't ignore me I want to talk to you."

"Alright James, what do you want?" Christian snapped as he stripped a handful of leaves off the tree; determined to get this stupid Detention over with as soon as he possibly could. The less time he had to spend in the middle of the Forbidden Forest the better.

"Look Christian, I'm sorry alright. I did something stupid, but stuff happens right? Can you please forgive me, I didn't mean to hurt you. I was just jealous like you said, but I didn't want to hear it from you." He admitted.

"What are you talking about James." Christian asked, in no mood to dance around with words.

James laughed at just how clueless Christian was, in a way he was rather like Jeremey in that regard. "Christ, you just don't get it! Everyone _loves_ you! And it's because of what you've done, not because of what your bloody name is!" James sighed and said "I guess I'm just jealous of how everyone sees you and thinks 'Oh, that's Christian Kennedy, he's the best Keeper Hufflepuff's had in years!' not like me. Whenever people see me it's just 'oh, there goes James Potter, Harry Potter's son.' You get to be your own person, and I don't!"

Christian stared at James skeptically, "That's it?" he asked, "That's what this whole thing was about?"

James nodded meekly and was greeted with a stick thrown at his face as Christian burst out laughing, laughing at what? At James' stupidity it would seem. "You," Christian said between spurts of laughter, "are a person I will never understand James Potter. But I suppose I like you better that way."

Once they'd seen that James and Christian had resolved their differences well enough, the other boys began to drop their guards somewhat and start talking again in hushed tones. However, there was still that awkwardness in the air: created by the duel that had caused the rift in the first place. Matters were not helped by the fact that Paul was still unwilling to forgive the Gryffindors, and remained cold and silent throughout the Detention.

After they had been there for around two hours, Andrew noticed a shadowy figure running towards the Castle in the distance, almost entirely obscured by trees. "Hey James," he muttered, "come check this out."

Not just James, but all of the boys had come running over just in time to see the shadow like figure disappear into the mist. "Who was that?" Christian asked tensely, fingering his wand anxiously.

"No idea," said James, "Do you reckon that we should go after them?"

"What?" Jeremey exclaimed, "Are you kidding, we'll get murdered! We're in enough trouble already!"

"Open your eyes you dolt!" Jason said, slapping Jeremey on the upside of his head, "Ambrose went back to the Castle to get his Crystal Ball or something like twenty minutes ago. We could probably be back before he even gets back!"

"Yea and what if he gets back before we do?" Zach interrupted, "I'm with Jeremey, it's too risky!"

"We could tell him that we went to the loo." Paul suggested, the first time he had spoken in several hours.

"What all at once?" James asked sarcastically. "You know what, forget it I'm going. Come or don't come!" he announced, before setting off at a run in the direction that they had seen the shadowy figure running.

Though James did not bother to check, all seven of the other boys had dropped their bags and chased after him, determined not to be the only one left behind.

It took them almost ten minutes before they found even the faintest sign of the figure again. This time, however, they got a much better look at him. He was wearing a flowing black robe with the hood up. He was glancing furtively over his shoulder every few minutes to make sure he wasn't being followed. However, he must not have been looking very hard as he never did notice them; something which James found immensely amusing.

Then, they came to a halt as they reached a clearing in the Forest. At first they'd thought that they were back on the grounds, but they soon realized that it was just a small clearing somewhere in the middle of the vast Forest.

The man that they had been chasing came to a halt before a taller man, also wearing a hood, and bowed to him reverently. "Everything is in place my Lord! Our presence here is still a secret, just as you ordered."

The taller man, who James realized must have been the man in charge, spoke in a slow and cruel voice. "Very good." He said, his voice barely above a hiss. "Then it is time for me to take my leave of this place. Matters here no longer require my direct attention."

The man nodded again, "Yes Master, as you wish."

The Leader spoke again, his voice colder than the frostiest of winter nights, "Good! The Magical History Movement shall make its mark on this night! On this night, we shall show the world the truth of our mission, and the power that we hold." Without another word, he swept from the clearing and vanished from sight amongst the thickly packed trees.

James' mouth hung open in shock, these people were the Magical History Movement? They were actually there, at Hogwarts? The whole thing was almost too much to take, and for a moment James refused to believe that it was real, for there was simply no way that something that crazy could really be happening to him.

But it was, and from the looks on the faces of the others, James knew that they were just as disbelieving as he was. "Alright, let's get out of here!" he whispered. "We don't stand a chance against these guys, we can…"

"So right you don't." came a shrill female voice from behind him. James spun around in shock and flinched at the sight of a woman whose entire face was covered in what appeared to be ritualistic tattoos.

James began to back away, but soon realized that it was no use as a ring of hooded figures had formed around them. How had they been so inattentive to allow this to happen?

"One little tip." The woman said, her girlish voice sounding cold and mocking in this unreal world of terror. "Next time, you may want to keep your voices down, if you live that long, Stupefy!"

A jet of red light flew out of her wand and hit James in the stomach. As he collapsed he saw identical jets of red light bury themselves in the chests of each of his friends. Then, his eyes flickered shut, and the world went black.

**Sorry, am I an evil person for leaving you hanging like this? Well, we're reaching the Climax of the book now: there are going to be 27 Chapters in Book One, so we're nearing the end now. PLEASE REVIEW! And as always, keep reading and thank you so much for the support!**


	25. Chapter 25: The Relic Reemerges

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Relic Reemerges

Waking up after being knocked out, as James was finding out, was not at all like waking up after being asleep. It was a dizzying, nauseating experience, and every inch of James' body was rebelling against him as he struggled to stay in the physical world, rather than slip back off into unconsciousness. Unfortunately, James failed the first time around and slipped back into unconsciousness, but not before he managed to realize that he was definitely tied up,

The second time James began to drag himself towards consciousness, he managed to accomplish the feat, although he still felt quite nauseous. As his vision began to fade back into focus, James looked around his surroundings and found that he, along with all the others, had been tied with their backs up against a row of trees, and for some reason it felt like there was a weight on his shoulder. Their wands must have been taken from them while they were out, as James could made out a row of eight slim sticks lined up one by one on a table a few dozen meters away from them.

They were still in the same clearing that they had been looking into earlier, but there was now a small hole in the center, and it was growing steadily deeper as men with shovels uprooted large sections of the earth. Whatever it was that these men were looking for, it was surely buried somewhere in the general area around here.

After making this realization, James began glancing down the line of his classmates, trying to see if any of them were conscious yet. On the far left was probably Paul, yea that was him, and he looked like he was struggling with his ropes, so he was awake, and next to him was Nick, who was similarly fidgeting.

On the tree immediately to the left of James were Jason and Christian, both of whom seemed to be conversing in low tones about something. So far it seemed that everyone had been awake long before James had finally dragged himself back into the world.

However, tied to the tree next to James was the source of the weight he'd been feeling earlier. Jeremey was still totally out, and had slumped up against James while asleep.

At the next tree were Andrew and Zach, one of whom seemed to be trying to shake the other one awake. It took James a few moments to realize that it was Zach who was moving, roughly trying to bring Andrew back to consciousness.

James did not waste his time trying to wake Jeremey up, it wasn't going to work, so instead he tried to find a way to win free of the ropes that bound him to the tree, however the ropes were extremely tight, and no matter what James did he could not loosen them in the slightest.

It took James some time to realize that Jason was having much better luck with his bonds one tree over, in fact, Jason had succeeded in getting his left arm free, and was trying to do the same with his right when James finally noticed the boy's progress.

Meanwhile, the men's search seemed to be slowly but surely narrowing down where their quarry could be located. Seeing as it was most certainly in this clearing, the team of Dark Wizards who had stunned James and the others some time earlier had already eliminated the near half of the clearing. They weren't digging al that deep. Only about three feet deep, which lead James to believe that what they were looking for had to be very small, and not very deep.

James was still squirming against his bonds when Jeremey's eyelids began to flicker some time later, the last of the boys to finally come round. His eyes darting from James, to the Dark Wizards, and back to James he said softly, "I don't know how we're gonna get out of this one James." The boy's voice was full of fear, fear that James was feeling but could not express, fear that he could not give in to, fear that was going to be their biggest enemy in getting out of here.

Jason by now had managed to get both hands free, and was now trying to slip his torso out of his ropes as inconspicuously as possible. Unfortunately, he was not moving very much, but he was still making some steady progress which was more than any of the other boys could say. James for one doubted that he had loosened so much as a single strand of the ropes binding him.

James was concerned by the possibility that the Dark Wizards were sure to notice when Jason finally won free of the ropes, but just as the Ravenclaw boy was pulling the last of the ropes off him, one of the Dark Wizards shouted "Here! I've found it!" causing his fellows to crowd around him, looking into the hole to see if it was indeed there.

Taking advantage of their momentary advantage, Jason sprinted to the table and grabbed his wand off the table and pointed it at the rest of them. "Relashio!" he whispered, causing their ropes to slide off them and collapse like so much string. The remaining boys immediately got up and went to retrieve their wands, but they were too late.

"Yes! We've found it!" came the elated cry as James grabbed his wand off the table, a feeling of warmth spreading through him as wand and master were reunited. The fleeting joy he had felt as he grasped his wand immediately vanished, only to be replaced by terror, what had they found? What was this lost relic that the Magical History Movement had so desperately sought for the last year.

As he turned to face his captors, steeling himself for the sight of some unholy magical abomination, James was filled with a sense of anticlimax as they were lifting only what looked like a ring to the sky.

"A ring?" James exclaimed, perhaps too loudly, "That's it! That's what they've been looking for all this time!" His friends tried to quiet him but it was too late, as one the Dark Wizards spun to face them, shock evident on all of their faces.

"Well well well," said the woman with the tattooed face, "Little baby Potter knows how to play with the big boys doesn't he?" she said menacingly. "But yet, he knows so little."

Sliding the ring onto her finger she said "I'd have thought that your father would have taught you about this Potter, as it was such a part of his legacy, but then it was one that he had not wanted wasn't it? That's why it ended up here."

James was fuming, whoever this woman was, she had no business bringing his father into this. Red sparks leapt from his wand in fury as he stared down the woman.

"No, you don't know. Very well then Potter." She said, speaking to him as though he were a struggling student who could not understand a simple concept. "This is the Resurrection Stone, one of the Legendary Deathly Hollows that your father was master of. It gives one the power to bring back the spirits of the dead, if only temporarily."

She grinned wickedly before continuing "However, we believe that temporarily is more than long enough! We shall use the Stone to bring back the spirit of the Dark Lord, so that he can tell the Wizarding World firsthand of how he was trying only to save them, and how he was murdered and framed by Harry Potter. Your father," she concluded, "will finally pay for the crimes he has committed."

James didn't care that this woman was clearly out of her mind, all that mattered to him now was the fact that if what she said was true, then that Stone held the power to return the most evil Dark Wizard in history to the earth…if only for a short time. However, even in that short time, there was no telling what kind of destruction Voldemort could cause!

"There's no way that that's going to happen!" James said dramatically, staring the woman down with more courage than he really felt.

His fear must have been evident, as the woman laughed at him and shouted. "You cannot defeat me! No one can! I am the most powerful Witch that the world has ever seen! I was trained by the Dark Lord himself before he was murdered by your father!"

James' fear only grew at this revelation, if that was the case then this woman was even more of a threat than he had previously believed! There was no way that he could possibly hope to defeat her!

She seemed to notice the fear in his eyes as she leapt forward shouting "Crucio!" forcing James to leap out of the way as her curse sailed past the First Years and exploded with a fiery crackle against a tree behind them.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Jeremey shouted, immediately followed by a cacophony of curses and jinxes as the First Years sent a bombardment of spells at the Dark Wizards. However, their spells were deflected by the woman with a casual flick of her wand, which sent their curses flying off at random angles. One of them came straight back at them and struck Nick in the chest, sending him tumbling to the floor.

"Crucio!" the woman shouted again. "Crucio! Crucio!" she shouted repeatedly, causing the children to run back and forth to avoid her curses. It then occurred to James that she was toying with them. Messing with their minds for her own sadistic amusement. She could probably have killed them at that very instant if she wanted to, but for some reason she seemed content to watch them suffer and writhe.

"Crucio!" she shouted again, this one flying dead center into the mass of First Years and striking Jeremey square in the chest. As the jet of light connected with him, Jeremey's entire body contorted and he collapsed to the ground, writing in agony.

"Oh look, I got one!" she said in apparent delight, much to the amusement of the other Dark Wizards, before pointing her wand at them again and yelling "Crucio!" this time sending Jason to the floor in spasms of pain. Though the effects of the curses had long since worn off, all three boys (Nick, Jeremey, and Jason) remained lying on the floor panting heavily. They probably assumed that if they didn't get up she wouldn't bother them, but James knew that this was just wishful thinking. She was not going to stop until she had killed every last one of them.

The woman laughed, staring down at them with all the authority of fate itself, as though she were a God, and they were ants beneath her feet to be destroyed at her leisure. "Such a shame," She said at last, before continuing "after everything that his father did, I would have expected so much more out of this one. But no, he does not have his father's spine: he's weak, gutless, and is afraid to stand up for himself. What's wrong boy? Does is upset you to see your friends in such pain? Perhaps I should make it easier on you and kill you now."

The way in which she was talking to him, taunting him, caused James to explode in fury. "Petrificus Totalus!" he shouted, only to groan in dismay when his spell was once again blocked aside by the woman with aggravating ease. It was hopeless, this woman's magic was far superior to his own. Plus she had the support of at least a dozen other Dark Wizards, each of whom could kill James before he'd even had time to react.

"Such a shame." She said, twirling her wand through the air lazily before pointing it directly at James' chest. "But I suppose that some traits just do not pass on from father to son. Not everyone can be a hero, your father's fate was to betray his kind; and now yours is to die." Slashing towards him with her wand she screeched "Avada Kedavra!"

**Please don't kill me for leaving you with a cliffhanger like this, I couldn't resist. Keep reading and reviewing, the final chapter of the climax will be up tomorrow, and the last chapter the day after that. So please keep reading and above all REVIEWING! I want to hear what everyone has to think. Thank you for reading!**


	26. Chapter 26: The Shattered Spirit

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Shattered Spirit

The words of death leapt from the lips of the cruel woman like a song, with practiced strength and force. James saw a flash of green light speeding towards him, knowing that death awaited him, and stood staring his death in the eyes.

But it would not come, as the rushing green light of death sped towards him his legs were taken out from underneath him and he fell to the forest floor. As he fell, he saw the Killing Curse fly by where his head had been just seconds before. As James hit the ground he felt his breath rush out of him and felt a sharp pain as he cut his side on a jagged rock.

Feeling his bleeding side, James looked to his left and saw who it was that had dragged him down: it was Christian. "You are so useless!" Christian said, grabbing James' hand and pulling him to his feet. To their right, Jeremey Nick and Jason had likewise leapt to their feet. They were done lying around waiting for death to come to them, it was time for them to fight! Regardless of the inevitability of their demise, James was not going to go down accepting his fate. He was going to go down fighting it to the end.

The woman's face contorted in rage when she saw James was still alive, locking her piercing eyes on Christian, she screeched "You'll pay for that boy! I was going to kill you quickly, but now you will die slowly!" She drew back her wand slowly, but she would not have time to finish her Curse. As she opened her mouth to speak the incantation, a jet of light from Jeremey's wand struck her in the square of the back and sent her tumbling to the ground. "Shut up, you horrid excuse for a human being!" Jeremey growled.

The air was rent by the screaming jets of light bursting from the wands of both sides, and the First Years ducked behind a fallen tree-trunk for cover. They could not hope to do much more than hold off the Dark Wizards for a little while, because sooner or later they were going to be overwhelmed by the superior magic of the Magical History Movement.

"We need to move!" James shouted over the din of spells and curses flying in both directions.

"Yea, where to?" Jeremey asked, before casting another jinx and ducking back behind the tree-trunk, a Killing Curse exploding against the trunk where Jeremey had popped his head out for a brief moment.

He was right, there was nowhere to go, they were cornered. And besides, they didn't even know which way they should go to get out of the Forest. There were no options, nothing that they could do, other than sit there and wait for death to come to them.

And it was coming, slowly but surely. Paul had taken some kind of bad hex to the shoulder and could no longer lift his arm, Zach had been knocked out by another curse, and Jason's resolve was slowly beginning to fade, you could see it in his eyes.

Then, out of the clear blue sky, the curses stopped coming and a voice pierced the silence, "Come out if you dare Potter! For your death approaches! Will you hide like a coward, or face the inevitable!" James peered through a crack in the bark and saw her lifting the Resurrection Stone above her head and cry "You shall meet your doom James Potter, by the hands of the Dark Lord! Reborn by the power of the Resurrection Stone, he will destroy you and your traitor father!"

She twisted the Ring over in her hand three times, and the Universe was split in two.

OK, perhaps it wasn't the Universe, but the immediate area was flung into complete and utter chaos. The wing took on an impossible strength and ferocity and began blowing with such power and ferocity that James had to grab a hold of the fallen tree trunk to avoid being blown away.

In the corner of his eye, he saw the others do the same, and noticed Andrew and Christian grab Paul and Zach to keep them from being blown off like leaves in the breeze. One of the Dark Wizards was not able to prepare himself in time, and found himself flung hundreds of feet in the air before falling back down and landing with a sickening crunch. The man's limp form was still sliding around the forest floor, and James did not need to look up to know that he could not have survived that fall. Besides, he was still concerned with keeping himself alive.

"Speak oh Dark King!" cried the woman, "Speak to your humble followers!"

Was this Voldemort? Was he causing all of this, no it was not possible, he was dead, and there was no way that he could be behind this. The wind blew with a tortured howl, sounding like the last tortured cry of a dying man. The earth in front of them began to crack as though the very ground was straining to keep itself together in light of this chaos.

"James! What's happening?" Christian yelled over the roar of the wind. His voice barely audible over the sound of the terrible horrible sound that seemed to resonate from the earth itself.

"I don't know!" James yelled back, struggling to make himself heard, "Just don't let go!"

The tree trunk began to creak and crack, and James could see that it was beginning to come apart at the middle, if this kept up for much longer, the trunk would split in two and fly upwards into the air. And if that happened, they were all done for!

There was a sharp cry of fear and pain, and James saw another Dark Wizard go flying into the skies, his face contorted in fear as he was sucked into the vortex. Would they soon share in his fate? The middle section of the tree was growing thinner and thinner as flakes of bark began flying off. Andrew's grip on Paul was beginning to weaken, and James knew that he would not be able to keep a grip on the unconscious boy for much longer.

Suddenly, there was a voice in the back of James' head, a voice that he had never heard before, but for some reason recognized from somewhere. Like an old, long forgotten dream, that had finally returned to him after all these years.

'_James',_ it said, calling to him, beseeching him, _'only you can stop this! The power lies within you, you must find it if you are to save your friends and yourself.'_ The voice explained nothing, told him nothing, but somehow he knew what he had to do. In a way, he felt as though he had always known what he had to do, he had known from the day that he was born: how this made any sense James could not explain.

Struggling to keep his grip on the tree trunk as he did so, James removed his right hand from where he had it braced against his safeguard and pointed his wand at the woman, who was standing unaffected at the heart of the maelstrom of death and destruction. Pointing his wand at the Stone on her hand James cried a single word "Eiherinst!"

It was not a spell he had ever been taught, ever read, ever been told, but somehow he knew that it would save them. Just like he had known that he had heard the voice before, he knew that this was the right thing to do.

However, even James was surprised when a jet of golden light flew from the tip of his wand towards the woman. From then, things seemed to travel in slow motion, almost as if in a dream. James saw the jet of light flying towards the woman, on course to impact right on her chest, but inexplicably it changed course at the last second!

Instead of hitting the woman, the spell changed direction like a heat seeking missile and imbedded itself on the Resurrection Stone! For a second, a brief second which in James' mind stretched to an eternity, nothing happened. But then, the Stone began to glow a bright gold and vibrate uncontrollably…

"DUCK!" James screamed, lowering his head back behind the tree to which he was clinging, and hoping that the others would listen to him and do the same. The instant that he had ducked behind the tree trunk, there was a loud explosion, and James saw a column of fire rush over the top of the tree trunk; had he not ducked down it would have cooked him alive!

The fire roared and rumbled across the clearing, razing everything in its path. It lingered far longer than any natural fire would last, but when it finally did dissipate, the wind had vanished with it.

James slowly stood up, knowing that he no longer had anything to fear. A quick glance at the other side of the clearing confirmed his suspicions. Where the woman had been standing just moments before, there was nothing but a large scorch mark. James shuddered, no matter how evil she had been, no one deserved a fate like that!

The Resurrection Stone was nowhere to be found, but James had known that he would not find it. It's power had been broken, it had been destroyed, and they were all far better off without it.

"James, what did you do?" Andrew asked, his voice barely above a whisper. James shook his head and said "I don't know I just…" but there was no way to explain what had happened without sounding mad. "I just knew…" he said simply, knowing that it was not an adequate explanation…but it was all that he could offer.

The others merely stared at him in shock for another moment, and then they all collapsed in shock and exhaustion, unable to force their legs to obey them for any longer. James felt Jeremey pound him on the chest and heard him say "Nice job Jamie, I guess that makes us even now."

Leave it to Jeremey to confuse him even now when he couldn't bring himself to move. "What are you talking about?" he asked him, barely able to keep himself from laughing, now was not the time.

"I lent you three sickles last week." Jeremey said seriously, "Now we're even."

For a second, James thought that Jeremey was being serious, but then the other boy began to laugh, and James could not help but join in. Laughing more at the improbability of what had happened than at the actual joke.

* * *

As one could expect, the firefight that had engulfed the clearing had attracted the attention of many of the Professors at Hogwarts, and before too long a large group of them had arrived upon the scene. James and the others were forced to relive the experience over and over again as the teachers asked for explanations over and over, but despite James' questions, none of them could understand why the Stone had created that vortex of destruction, or how James had learned that spell.

But James knew, or rather he thought he knew, but he didn't want to tell anyone what his theory was. It was just too crazy, no he would be keeping that thought to himself.

* * *

"I cannot even count the number of rules that you children were in violation of!" Professor McGonagall ranted the next morning, this lecture taking place in the Hospital Wing rather than in the Headmistress' Office because of all the patching up that the boys had needed. Madam Palumbo had been practically catatonic when she saw them. With the exception of Andrew, none of the boys had been able to stand when Professor McGonagall had entered the Hospital Wing, and Nick Zach and Jeremey had not even been able to sit up.

"But I cannot punish you for this because you may very well have saved the Wizarding World from a terrible destruction. And, you led to the rescue of a Hogwarts Professor!"

This was news to the students, "We did?" James asked, unsure of who Professor McGonagall could possibly have been talking about.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, "I had thought that you would have been told! Professor Hagrid was found imprisoned in a large cell in the camp of the MHM not far from where we found you boys. However, by the time we found him you had already been returned to the Castle."

James breathed a huge sigh of relief, not wanting to admit that in all the excitement he had forgotten all about the missing Games Keeper. He was right though, Hagrid had been taken Prisoner, just like he had said.

With a final sigh, Professor McGonagall strode from the Hospital Wing saying "I warn you not to be so flippant with school rules in the future, as such infractions as those you made today will certainly lead to expulsion should they continue!"

Christian had groaned the moment that Professor McGonagall had left and said "Unbelievable, we just saved all of their lives and she's threatening us with expulsion! They should be giving us a medal of something!"

James laughed so hard that his ribs felt like they were going to all off, everything had worked out alright... they were safe.

**Confused? Eager for the ending? Final Chapter will go up tomorrow, and everything will be explained then! Thanks for the support, keep reading, REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW and stay posted for Book Two, the link to which will be in the last chapter of Book One (aka: this book).**


	27. Chapter 27: Returning to Reality

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Returning to Reality

It had taken the boys almost an entire week before Madam Palumbo finally deemed them healthy enough to be released from the Hospital Wing. The last few days of that week, during which James had felt perfectly healthy, had been absolute torture for the boys, who wanted to just get out and do something rather than just sit in a bed all say.

The highpoint of their stay, for James anyway, had been when Erin had come to visit them. Erin had immediately dissolved into tears when she'd seen the boys, beat up and battered, and cried that she should never have yelled at them. She had tearfully run up and hugged each of the boys, even her brother, and though the hug was causing James' side an excruciating amount of pain, he made sure to hold on for an extra few seconds.

James and Jeremey had been in unusually high spirits for the rest of that day, despite the fact that they had been complaining just before Erin's visit that they could not bear to be in there for another second.

Dwayne had also stopped by to check in on them, much to the delight of Christian, who had been missing his best friend's company. Dwayne said some of the same things as Erin, though not quite so tearfully, saying that he should never have been so cross with them over the fight, and that it wasn't worth the big fuss he had made out of it.

When finally they got out, the first thing that they had done was celebrate their newfound freedom by heading out for a day on the grounds. After spending so long cooped up in the stuffy Hospital Wing, the boys were overjoyed to be able to get outside and feel the warm touch of the sun on their skin, the gentle caress of the cool spring breeze.

It was amazing how much more you appreciated the simple things in life after coming face to face with death. The memory of the burst of green light coming rushing towards him continued to haunt James' thoughts, and he knew that if it had not been for Christian he would have died in that Forest.

That simple fact did more than anything else to help heal the relationship between the Gryffindors and the other boys. You simply could not go through such a life and death experience with someone without bonding with them in a fundamental and basic way, and James felt that he and the non-Gryffindors were far closer than they had ever been before the fight.

The End of Term was coming up, and James discovered to his delight that he had managed to get very good grades in all of his classes, he had even managed to scrape an 'A' in Herbology! Teddy, thanks to his insane cramming, had done exceptionally well on his N.E.W.T.s, well enough even to be able to consider entering into the Auror Office like James' father.

The End of Term Feast was attracting the attention of everyone in the School, and Ravenclaw was leading by the slimmest of margins: however it had become a tradition to add last-minute points at the Feast, so that could very easily change.

* * *

James entered the Great Hall halfheartedly on the night of the End of Term Feast, knowing that after this he was going to have to go home for the summer. In a lot of ways, he had desperately missed his family and wanted to see them again, but at the same time he did not want to leave Hogwarts and all of his friends.

As James took his seat, Professor McGonagall gathered the attention of the Hall and said "Well, it has been another exciting, and stressful, year as Headmistress of this wonderful school. Each and every one of you has helped contribute to the story of this year, and so I thank you for both the goods and the bads. OK, maybe not so much the bads." She conceded, at which the Hall dissolved into brief giggles.

"Very well, I have three final point additions to give before we announce our winner." Professor McGonagall announced, "Firstly: for being the only House _not_ involved in the rule breaking frenzy that you have all no doubt heard about in the Forbidden Forest that lead to the destruction of the Resurrection Stone, I award Slytherin House fifty points!"

There was a smattering of applause from the Slytherin Table. Professor McGonagall's addition had put them in the lead by thirty points! James was dumbfounded. Hadn't they saved the school?

"Secondly: to James Potter for saving the lives of every student and faculty in this Castle, I award Gryffindor House fifty points!" Professor McGonagall announced. Perhaps not as articulate as the infamous Albus Dumbledore would have put it, but James didn't care. They had a ten point lead!

"And finally," Professor McGonagall said, "To the student who took the initiative to do what was necessary when things seemed their bleakest, I award fifty points to Christian Kennedy!"

Christian's jaw fell down to his chest, the Hufflepuff Table exploded with shouts and cheers as students began doing the math: Hufflepuff had stolen back the lead by ten points!

"Hufflepuff wins the House Cup!" Professor McGonagall announced, and Yellow Banners unfurled in the Great Hall as Christian was lifted into the air by his Housemates, much to the small boy's shock and fear. "OK, put me down! Put me down!" Christian had shouted fearfully, exhaling a huge sigh of relief once he had finally been put back on the ground.

Disappointed though he was for losing out, again, James was happy for his friend. Christian had saved his life when everyone else had been ready to pack it in and resign themselves to death, and for that he deserved a lot more than the fifty points that Professor McGonagall had given him.

It was, according to Nearly-Headless Nick, the first time that Hufflepuff House had captured the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup in the same year since the late 19th Century, a fact which Zach told him to go and share with the Hufflepuff Table. When he did so, the Hufflepuff's cheering grew even louder.

* * *

That night, when James and the others returned to their Dormitory, he cast a long mourning look around the room. Small as it was, it had been their home, their clubhouse, their fortress, their retreat, and so many other things for the duration of the year.

As he pulled down his Chudley Cannons Poster from the wall, James remembered all the memories that they had made in the Dormitory that year. It was there that he and Jeremey had fought over Erin's attention, and then reconciled two weeks later. It was there that he had awoken to ice-water being poured over his head, there that they had donned the bracelets signifying them as Dorm-Mates, friends, and brothers.

There had been so many memories made in that room, James thought as he straightened the small gold bracelet that still jangled on his wrist, but they were going to make even more of them next year!

It took James some time to cram all of his things into his trunk, in the end he had been forced to step on the general mess of his possessions in order to force the lid closed. Jeremey and Andrew's trunks had been no better, only Zach's trunk had closed without difficulty: Zach was always the neatest and most organized of the bunch.

Jeremey and James had both fretted over what they were going to do with their Nimbus 3,000 brooms, and in the end both boys had decided to trust the train's broom-storage racks, though they did so with many a bitter regret. The boys, Jeremey especially, treasured their brooms more than anything else in the world, and were loath to trust its protection to someone else.

* * *

At the Platform before getting on the Hogwarts Express to return to London, the Gryffindor quartet ran into Christian and Dwayne and the six boys immediately froze on the spot. They had not gotten the chance to speak since Hufflepuff had won the House Cup, and more than a few people were wary of sparks flying again. However, they needn't have worried, as James and Jeremey were both quick to congratulate the pair on their victory, much to everyone's relief.

They had decided to go looking for a compartment together, and had found the rest of the group that had been in the Forest, along with Erin, inside a compartment towards the back of the train. Knowing that they only had a few hours left with which to use magic, they had spent most of the train ride practicing spells that they had learnt during the course of the year. And, much to James' chagrin, they had even talked about their End of Term Examinations which, remarkably, they had all managed to pass with relative ease.

The conversation was just turning to their plans for the summer when the compartment door opened, to everyone's shock and surprise there stood Leon Bartlett still decked out in his Slytherin robes.

No one was sure what to do, as a general rule Slytherins kept to themselves and did not interact much with students from the other Houses. Though they had all gotten along with Leon well enough on the train ride to Hogwarts, that was totally different. He had not been a Slytherin yet. But now, the Gryffindors in the compartment had an almost moral obligation to dislike him.

Leon was about to say something, but then stopped and muttered "Sorry." He turned to leave, and it was then that James realized that Leon had been the Slytherin who he'd seen walking towards them that day on the lake. That Leon had been the one Slytherin wearing Gryffindor colors when they had played Hufflepuff. All year, Leon had been reaching out to them, and he had kept slamming the door in his face.

_He's a Slytherin! He's the enemy!_

_But he's not that bad, he's kinda nice really._

The two parts of his brain were at war with one another, one urging him to give Leon the boot, and the other telling him to welcome the boy into the fold as he would have if the boy had been from any House.

Finally, James sighed and muttered "Sorry Uncle Ron." Before getting up and leaning out the door, "Hey Leon!" he shouted out. "Come back!"

The boy had turned around, a bright smile lighting up his face at James' words. A hope he'd barely dared to have coming true.

Leon joined in their conversation for the rest of the ride back to London, and James insisted that Leon had to hang out with them more the next year, which positively delighted the Slytherin boy who, James realize, probably did not have many friends in his own House.

* * *

When James glanced off the train he saw his parents and siblings waiting for him, and he wondered how he was possibly going to tell them all the things that had happened to him during his last few weeks at Hogwarts. How he was to explain to his father the voice in his head, and what it had told him to do…and how he had felt as though the voice were a part of him, part of his past, in some way that he could not explain.

He was afraid to share this secret with his father, but he knew that he had to. But only with his father, no one else, his mother did not need to know. Nor did Albus or Lily, but he had to tell his father. It would be wrong not to tell his father.

Because the voice he had heard, the one that had told him what to do, had been the voice of his grandfather, his namesake.

Somehow, James Potter had heard the voice of his dead grandfather…James Potter I.

**Cliffhanger to end the First Book, oh no! Please don't kill me, they're not ALL going to end like this, but I just felt like the first one needed to end with a little air of mystery surrounding it.**

**A few people have told me that they were confused about certain things that happened in the climax sequence. You were supposed to be, even James doesn't have a clue what was going on. But all of the questions are going to be answered in the opening Chapter of the Second Book. Or more accurately: the second chapter, but they are going to be answered.**

**I would like to thank everyone who read and reviewed this story, and would like to humbly ask you to continue to do so for the Second Book and beyond. A very special thanks to Tina95, who was a constant supporter of James Potter and the Continuous Legacy, and whose reviews were all very appreciated and enjoyed. Thanks as well to all of my reviewers, each and every one of your reviews were very special to me.**

**Thank you to all of my readers, and I hope that you stay with me through Book Two: James Potter and the Bloodline of Kings.**

**When will you be able to read it? Well, the Second Book will not be published as rapidly as the First as, in this case, it is still largely unwritten. But I promise you that you will not have to wait long, and that it will be even better than the First!**

**The first chapter of 'Bloodlines' is up and can be found on my author page.**

**The rest of the book will soon follow, so please READ, REVIEW, and REMEMBER the good times that Harry Potter has brought us. Thank you J.K. Rowling for creating this amazing universe!**

**And now, I will change 'Legacies' status to 'completed' so that I can fully dedicate my attention to 'Bloodlines'. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE SUPPORT, AND PLEASE CONTINUE READING! (especially if you want to fully understand the climax of 'Legacies')  
**


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